


Cherry and Atticus Meet Steven Universe

by PerkyGoth14



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-14
Updated: 2019-09-24
Packaged: 2020-10-18 17:09:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 33,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20642702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PerkyGoth14/pseuds/PerkyGoth14
Summary: Atticus's sister Jessica comes over to bring Atticus, Cherry, Mo, and Patch to visit her childhood home of Beach City which is also the home to a boy named Steven Universe who is part human and part Crystal Gem along with his friends: Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl. Friendship is put up for the test though when a new Gem appears and makes quite an unforgettable adventure for everyone.





	1. Chapter 1

It seemed to be a normal summer home in Greendale so far. The adventure group were given special necklaces which had their birthstones on it, but they would later find out why that was as they met in the park together as nothing was happening so far, but a surprise came as Atticus's older sister came for a visit.

"Hey, Jessica." Atticus smiled.

"Oh, look at my little brother, you're getting so big," Jessica smiled back. "I still remember when you were a cute little baby."

"Aw, Jess, not in front of the others." Atticus smiled sheepishly.

"Hey, Jessica," Cherry said. "Cool to see you again."

"Hi, Jessica." Mo smiled.

"Hey, Mo," Jessica smiled back, hugging Mo then. "I didn't miss the wedding, did I?"

"No, Jessica," Atticus chuckled. "We got big plans for that."

"Well, that's good," Jessica said. "I was also wondering if you'd like to come to a special place with me that I haven't been to since I was really little before you were born, Atticus."

"Beach City?" Atticus guessed.

"Oh, yes," Jessica sighed with a small smile. "It was a lot of fun when I was younger, especially with Amethyst."

"So, then what are we waiting for?" Patch asked.

"I guess permission to get going." Jessica replied.

"Heh... Yeah, I guess we better go check first." Atticus told his sister.

"Well, Mom and Dad already know, so you're good," Jessica smiled. "I'll wait for your friends though."

Cherry and Mo soon went to get permission from their parents. Jessica came into the house, saying hi to everyone and collected some snacks on the way.

"Good to see you, Jessie," Emily smiled. "Are you feeding yourself alright? You're so skinny."

"I'm eating, Mom, I just wanna keep in shape." Jessica smiled back.

"Well, alright." Emily said.

"Oh, Mom..." Jessica smiled as she checked the fridge.

Atticus put on his new necklace as he held onto the gemstone, remembering something from school.

Flashback

In Magic School, Atticus and his friends had been going over a unit which was about a group called the Crystal Gems, some of who were currently in a place called Beach City which Atticus remembered from his older sister's stories about living there long before he was born and Amethyst being her best friend at the time.

"Once upon a time, the Gem Homeworld was ruled by Diamonds," Ms. Magrooney told her class as they read what looked like an old-fashioned storybook. "White, Yellow, Blue, and the littlest Diamond, Pink. While the other Diamonds conquered many worlds across the galaxy, Pink had only one: the planet Earth. One day, Pink fled the comforts of Homeworld. On Earth, she made a new home, new friends, and finally, new life, giving up her form to bequeath her gem to her half-human son. Without Pink, gemkind entered an era of despair. But when Steven Universe learned of his heritage, he reunited with his fellow Diamonds and championed an new era of peace and freedom across the furthest reaches of space."

"Cool." Atticus smiled.

"So is he going to go through with it?" Sabrina asked, raising her hand.

"He might," Ms. Magrooney replied before bring out necklaces to each of them with gems on them. "But as a part of our unit, here are these special gemstone necklaces."

"An Opal? That's my birthstone." Cherry realized.

"And mine's a Garnet like my birthstone." Atticus added.

"Exactly." Ms. Magrooney nodded.

"So we're all going to be given our birthstones?" Mo asked.

"Drell asked me to give you these for when we would cover the Crystal Gems," Ms. Magrooney replied. "These necklaces aren't just for show, but they'll also help give you very special and unique abilities, should you ever go to the place known as Gem Homeworld which is deep within the galaxy."

"Whoa." The class smiled.

"Oh, Mo, your topaz looks so pretty." Atticus smiled.

"Thanks, Atticus," Mo smiled back. "I like your garnet."

"Careful, you two," Ms. Magrooney said. "If certain gems come together, they'll fuse into a new gem."

"Okay." Cherry said.

"The Crystal Gems..." Atticus said. "I wonder if Jessica knows about all of this?"

"I'm sure she knows a bit since she mentioned that Amethyst was her best friend when she was little." Mo smiled to him.

"Yeah, maybe," Atticus smiled back. "Still sounds pretty cool. I love Magic School!" he then cheered.

Back to the present as Cherry and Mo soon came back after a while since they were now allowed to go to Beach City with Atticus and Jessica.

"Alright, let's go." Jessica smiled.

"Don't forget about me." Patch said, coming with his own gem necklace which had a tanzanite on it.

"Spot, you have a birthstone?" Cherry asked.

"Yeah, I guess I do," Patch replied, looking down to his. "I think Ms. Magrooney said this one was called a tanzanite."

"That means you were born in December." Jessica then said.

"Cool." Mo smiled.

Patch soon came in to join them.

"All right, if that's everyone, let's go," Jessica said. "Unless you guys want Sabrina to come along too?"

"We would, but she's spending time with her parents." Cherry replied.

"I thought she wasn't allowed to do that?" Jessica then said.

Atticus whistled innocently as he got comfortable in his seat.

"Atticus?" Jessica asked.

"Jessica?" Atticus replied.

"What happened?" Jessica asked.

"I was able to convince the Witch's Council to let Mrs. Spellman become a witch and she had to pass a test to keep her new status, so she and Mr. Spellman could get married again and spend some time with Sabrina." Atticus smiled, feeling proud of himself.

"Whoa," Jessica smiled. "Impressive."

"Just thought I'd help make things fair for Sabrina," Atticus replied. "She is our friend after all. I also think more magical creatures should be allowed in The Witch's Council than just witches and warlocks."

"Won't be much of a 'witch's' council if there's other magical creatures." Jessica replied as she drove off.

"I know, but it isn't fair to the other magical creatures." Atticus said.

"Drell must REALLY like you if he's willing to bend the rules," Jessica replied. "When I was a kid, he was pretty much mean to everybody."

"I think he was mostly like that though because of his failure to show up at his and Hilda's wedding." Atticus replied.

"That must be it." Jessica said.

"Lucky me." Atticus smiled.

"Yeah, yeah... Everybody loves Nancy." Cherry smirked.

"Is that like your nickname for him?" Jessica asked.

"Pretty much." Atticus nodded.

"Why...?" Jessica asked. "Are you calling him a Nancy Boy?"

"Eh, it's mostly poking fun at how much he likes Nancy Drew than being a Nancy Boy," Cherry explained. "Especially with that one time he got to meet her in person after all this time, I thought she was just a book character like Daring Do."

"Who is also real." Mo said.

Jessica chuckled. "Ah, Equestria... I hated that when I was younger."

"You did?" The others asked in surprise.

"Yeah..." Jessica smiled sheepishly. "I was mad at Mom and Dad for making me leave Amethyst. That was sometime after I met Tarzan though."

"And then you met the timberwolves on your first day in Equestria, right?" Patch guessed.

Jessica shuddered as that was a very unpleasant experience.

"I'll take that as a yes." Patch then said.

"After seeing the timberwolves, it changed my look on Equestria." Jessica said.

The others nodded as that was a bit understandable. They rode along for a while, so the group fell asleep, even Cherry while Jessica kept on driving. Cherry found herself dreaming about the first time she met Atticus as it seemed to be very important to remember for later.

"Hey, look, it's that weak kid reading again." A bully smirked.

"Huh? What's going on?" Cherry blinked before looking around. "...The orphanage... It's the first time Atticus and I talked to each other."

"Let's go mess with him." A second bully smirked.

Atticus smiled as he read to himself before seeing shadows over him.

"Whatcha reading, Bookworm?" The first bully smirked to Atticus.

"Please leave me alone." Atticus frowned.

"Oh, why would we do that?" The second bully smirked as he took Atticus's book from him. "We're just here to teach you that books aren't that important."

"Hey!" Atticus frowned.

"How can you read this stuff?" The bully huffed, leafing through the pages. "There are no pictures!"

"Some people use their imagination," Atticus crossed his arms. "Like for me being a superhero like Superman."

The bullies then laughed at him for saying something like that.

"You? A superhero like Superman? Oh, please." The first bully scoffed as he pushed Atticus down.

"H-Hey!" Cherry spoke up. "You cut that out!"

The bullies soon looked to her.

"Ah, look, guys, it's the loner." The first bully told his friends.

"Did you say something, Loner?" The third bully smirked at Cherry.

"Leave him alone!" Cherry cried out, speaking up a bit louder.

The bullies laughed at her and soon surrounded her.

"He's never done anything to you," Cherry glared. "Why do you have to be such jerks?"

"Because he's weak and him imagining being a superhero like Superman, that's stupid." The first Bully smirked.

"Y-You're stupid!" Cherry glared.

"You two belong with each other," The third bully chuckled. "You're both misfits. You'll never get adopted."

"Never ever." The second bully laughed as he ripped Atticus's book.

Atticus cried a bit from that.

The bullies then laughed, throwing the remains on the floor as they walked off.

"Atticus... Listen to me..." Cherry said to her future friend. "You're going to get big and strong someday. I know you are."

"How can you be so sure?" Atticus frowned.

"Trust me, I know, because we're... Because... We're friends." Cherry told him as bravely as she could.

"W-We're friends?" Atticus smiled.

"...Best friends," Cherry soon smiled back the best she could. "Best friends for life."

Atticus soon hugged her happily.

"Ooh! Hey! Hey, hey!" Cherry complained. "What, are we engaged or something?"

"It's great to have a friend." Atticus smiled in the hug.

Cherry sighed as she hugged him back even if she didn't like being hugged as much.

"You always seemed interesting to me," Atticus said. "I wanted to be your friend, I just didn't know what to say."

"Oh, trust me, we're gonna be friends for a long time." Cherry hinted since this was a dream.

"Well, I'm happy that we'll be friends for a long time." Atticus smiled.

"Yeah, no problem," Cherry said. "It'll be, uh, unforgettable."

"I don't think I could forget a moment like this." Atticus beamed.

Cherry gave small smile so then this Atticus wouldn't worry too much of the future.

"Your friendship is very admirable," Princess Luna coached her student from the door. "I know that you will be able to help your friend in need while in Beach City, Cherry."

"Speaking of Atticus, what is he dreaming about right now?" Cherry asked.

"He's having a vision of the past." Princess Luna said.

"You mean like this one?" Cherry then asked.

"No, his vision is of a different past one that isn't his own." Princess Luna said.

Cherry looked concerned.

"Would you like to come with me?" Princess Luna asked.

Cherry sighed before bowing her head. "If I must..." she then said, following her out of her own dream.

As they left Cherry's dream, they entered Atticus's dream/vision and where they saw a special garden. Atticus smiled as he wandered about the garden to explore for himself.

"Ooh, it's Atticus's Secret Garden." Cherry joked.

"No," Princess Luna shook her head as she pointed to two figures that were seen playing there. "Their garden."

"Huh? Oh..." Cherry then said sheepishly as she took a look.

"This is unlike many gardens you've seen back home, isn't it, Cherry?" Princess Luna quizzed.

The figures there both appeared to be pink and white, one of them laughing a bit more than the other.

"Ah... Friendship..." Cherry said softly.

One of the figures was seen juggling and the other was seen laughing as she clapped her hands, but then stopped.

"Aw... It's nice..." Cherry commented.

"Nice to see you being positive for once." Princess Luna commented.

The two figures smiled to each other before something began to change despite their strong friendship. Two new figures were seen on a communication device that first started as a shape of a diamond and where they were telling one of the figures that she was given her own colony.

"What's going on?" Cherry asked.

"They seem to be drifting apart," Princess Luna said softly. "Like when Celestia and I once had."

"Oh, it can't be as bad as that, right?" Cherry replied in concern.

The second figure began to try to follow the first figure, but she kept on trying to get away from her and she soon came up with an idea. The first figure told the second figure they were going to play a game the second figure looked excited to play. The first figure told her that the only rule was that the second figure had to stay in the garden and where the second figure thought it was going to be so much fun. The second figure gave a small smile before leaving her friend behind. Cherry bit her lip as it seemed worse than she imagined. Princess Luna soon put a hoof around Cherry to comfort her as this was a pretty heartbreaking vision to witness. And where even Atticus was feeling the pain from this vision as the second figure stayed where she was the garden began to grow everywhere. Cherry frowned as that had to feel very painful before her eyes flashed rainbow colors as she felt something deep within her heart. The second figure frowned wondering if this was how you played the game. It seemed as though the figure's playmate wouldn't come back as the garden grew out.

"This is really sad, man," Cherry muttered. "How could she leave her friend like that?"

"This was before Pink Diamond found out more about the Earth." Princess Luna said.

The vision began to look like Atticus was going to going into another vision.

"Pink Diamond?" Cherry gasped. "That means she's never coming back!"

"So you know about that part." Princess Luna then said.

"Yeah, from school," Cherry replied. "Because of her colony."

"Then you now know why her friend is still in their garden." Princess Luna told her.

"Yeah." Cherry nodded softly before seeing they were now in another vision.

"Now, let's see what Atticus is seeing now." Princess Luna then said as they watched the new vision.

"Please be something good." Cherry hoped to herself.

They soon saw a new figure and where this one looked strong.

"It's... It's..." Cherry stuttered before narrowing her eyes. "Who IS that?"

"His name is Titanium; I've seen his dreams even though Gems don't sleep," Princess Luna said. "He's like Homeworld's Superman."

"I guess this vision is showing us all about him." Cherry said.

"Looks like it." Princess Luna nodded.

Titanium was shown to be walking along on what looked like a normal and carefree day in Homeworld, though it wasn't always like that. Even Pink Diamond wished it could be peaceful and without war, especially with the other Diamonds who were a bit above other Gems. And where Titanium was shown to be able to outsmart and out-strength and overpower other Gems in training and combat, but was also shown to have a gentle side when he went to Earth with Pink Diamond when she turned into Rose Quartz with someone who looked like a ballerina known as Pearl. Cherry stepped over a bit and began to sit down as she felt entranced by Rose Quartz somehow.

The scene soon began to change as Homeworld was no longer shown and it was down on Earth in the beach which was a much older Beach City before the Human-Gem hybrid had been born known as Steven Quartz Universe. Pearl seemed to look unsure about being on Earth, but Rose was more open-minded and looked happy to explore the new world. As for Titanium, he was open-minded like Rose, but still kept his guard up.

"This would seem like a flashback if Atticus were there." Princess Luna commented.

"I guess." Cherry shrugged.

"Oh, Rose, are you sure about this place?" Pearl asked the pink-curly haired nonhuman woman. "It seems... Strange."

"Not strange, Pearl, just different, and I like it here." Rose told the tinier Gem.

"I find this place very interesting." Titanium said.

"Hmph." Pearl pouted as she felt ignored in this world.

"Nice attitude about my home world." Cherry deadpanned as she watched with Princess Luna.

The vision kept going and where it showed how Rose, Pearl, and Titanium met Ruby and Sapphire and saw them fuse into Garnet. Cherry knew about Garnet being a Fusion, but seeing it actually happen was pretty surprising and overwhelming, especially with Ruby and Sapphire being involved. Garnet was soon shown to be laughing, having three eyes now as she had Ruby and Sapphire's friendship deep within her which allowed her to exist. The vision went forward again and showed how Rose, Pearl, Titanium, and Garnet met Amethyst. Amethyst looked like a young kid who seemed to be lonely until she met them and they all seemed to become friends.

"So this is how the Crystal Gems formed..." Cherry commented to herself. "We were supposed to learn more about that in school after our break."

The vision continued to show the Crystal Gems members and even showed when Rose, Titanium, Pearl, Garnet, and Amethyst met Greg, Patrick, and Emily and Jessica and Atticus when he was a baby.

"Hey! I haven't seen you in a while!" Amethyst laughed, hugging Jessica.

"I didn't know Atticus went to Beach City as a baby..." Cherry commented to herself as she only knew about Jessica living in Beach City with their parents when she was very young.

"Amethyst, great to see you," Jessica beamed to her childhood best friend. "Aunt Rose, do you wanna see a baby?"

"Yes, that sounds lovely, dear." Rose smiled.

Emily and Patrick soon showed Baby Atticus to the Crystal Gems. The Gems crowded around curiously, though Rose seemed to be the most happy and excited to meet Baby Atticus.

"His name is Atticus." Emily smiled.

"What a handsome name." Rose smiled back.

"Ugh, he stinks!" Amethyst complained.

"What? But we just changed his diaper." Emily said.

"Bleh..." Amethyst stuck her tongue out.

"He does seem interesting though." Garnet smiled down to Baby Atticus.

"Hmm... I suppose he is a little cute..." Pearl glanced over shyly.

"You two must be proud." Titanium said to Patrick and Emily as Baby Atticus reached out for him.

"We are." Patrick and Emily beamed.

"I love being a big sister," Jessica smiled. "I'm never gonna let anything happen to my baby brother."

Cherry winced as that statement was doomed by the future that she knew about.

In the vision, Titanium was then seen showing Baby Atticus his abilities/powers. Cherry watched closely as this was very interesting. Baby Atticus watched Titanium and even though he was only an infant, he looked inspired and hoped to himself that he could be a great superhero when he would grow up.

The vision then showed when Rose no longer there and instead was her baby. Cherry raised her eyebrows a bit.

"Believe... Believe in Steven..." Rose's voice said even though she wasn't there.

A baby boy was shown with curly black hair who seemed to have a pink gemstone on his stomach.

The vision soon fast-forwarded to Titanium leaving.

"Wait, where's he going?" Cherry asked.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say that he was jealous of the baby." Princess Luna guessed.

"I can't stay here; seeing him with Rose's gem just reminds me that she's never coming back." Titanium said softly before leaving.

"You were saying?" Cherry asked.

Princess Luna cupped her muzzle in concern.

"I'm sorry, girls..." Titanium said as he soon went to leave the Crystal Gems.

The vision fast-forwarded as it showed Titanium being everywhere on Earth and even showing him staying in training before showing him deciding to go back Beach City, but not to show his face to the Crystal Gems yet. It soon showed him bumping into a little girl around the age of 12.

"I don't think I know who that is now." Cherry said, referring to the girl.

"Oh, you should soon." Princess Luna replied.

The girl's hat fell to her eyes before she moved her hat up while hugging a book in her arms before letting out a small gasp in surprise who was right in front of her.

"Sorry, didn't see you there." Titanium told her.

"Whoa... You're... You're big..." The girl said in shock.

"No duh." Cherry smirked.

"Cherry..." Princess Luna said in a scolding tone.

"Yeah," Titanium told the girl. "I'm just trying to find a place to call my own... Get out a little..."

"Oh, um, well, maybe you could stay with me and my parents?" The girl suggested.

Titanium tilted his head.

"Surely it'll be alright," The girl smiled, taking his hand the best she could as she looked a bit shy. "Uh... What's your name?"

"Titanium." The being soon told her.

"My name's Connie." The girl replied.

"Let's see of how the parents react." Cherry said.

"Should be an interesting one." Princess Luna replied.

The two soon walked along as the scene changed around them and Connie was soon coming home. "Mom? Dad? You here?" she then called out, opening the door with Titanium right behind her.

"Yes, Connie, we're home." Connie's father said as he went to greet his daughter while her mother made dinner.

"Uh, Mom, Dad, could a friend come over for dinner?" Connie asked.

"A friend?" Connie's parents repeated curiously.

"Uh, yeah," Connie replied. "He's sort of... New."

"Oh, I know where this is going." Cherry commented.

"Well... I suppose you could have a friend come over for dinner." Connie's father replied.

"Thanks." Connie smiled.

"Let's see this friend then." Connie's mother then said.

Connie beamed and soon let Titanium into her home and once her parents saw him, they looked very shocked and overwhelmed from his size and stature.

"Um, hello." Titanium greeted.

"...Connie... W-Who is this...?" Connie's mother asked.

"His name is Titanium," Connie smiled. "Titanium, these are my parents: Dr. and Mr. Maheswaran."

"It's very nice to meet you both." Titanium smiled at Connie's parents.

"Erm... Yes... Um... Uh..." Dr. Mahesawarn replied. "...What are you exactly?"

"I guess I'm not like you." Titanium shrugged.

"Maybe he's a Crystal Gem." Connie said.

"Ah, yes, that," Titanium replied before sighing softly. "At least I was for a while."

"Hmm..." Dr. Maheswaran paused. "Well, I guess he could come and eat... You DO eat, right?"

"Probably not as much as Amethyst, but sure." Titanium chuckled.

And so once they were all served, they began to eat. Titanium seemed to like being with Connie's family so far.

"Well, at least he's happy." Cherry commented.

The vision showed Titanium helping Connie with her training in the back of their house whenever the Crystal Gems and Steven were away on missions.

"Wait, why hasn't she told them that Titanium is staying with her and her family?" Cherry asked.

"Watch and you shall see." Princess Luna said.

"Ugh... More learning?" Cherry sighed a bit.

"Now then, Connie, are you ready?" Titanium asked the human girl.

"I think so," Connie smiled. "I think I'm a bit sharper now, thanks to you."

"No problem, now just promise me that you won't tell the Crystal Gems or Steven that I've been living with you and your parents; at least not yet." Titanium said.

"Oh, no problem..." Connie replied.

"I'm sorry, Connie, but it's very important that they don't know." Titanium told her.

"All right... I promise." Connie then told him with a firm and steady nod.

"Thank you." Titanium smiled.

Connie smiled back.

"I guess he's still holding back with the birth of Steven and all." Cherry commented.

"I just can't face them after I left them to raise Steven on their own," Titanium frowned. "I now know that's not what she would have wanted."

"I see..." Connie replied. "I'm sorry, Titanium."

"It's alright, Connie." Titanium said.

"Now, uh, what were we going to cover today?" Connie asked.

"Let's see how much your hand-to-hand combat has improved." Titanium suggested.

"Oh, it's improved." Connie smiled.

"Show me then." Titanium smirked.

Connie smirked back and the two began to practice fight each other through their fists. During their practice fight, Titanium was only using 25% percent of his strength so then he wouldn't hurt Connie too much. Cherry and Princess Luna continued to watch.

"You're doing really great, Connie," Titanium told the girl as they fought each other. "You should be strong enough once you go back to school."

"I get bullied a lot." Connie frowned.

"Well, you won't be bullied anymore." Titanium promised.

"Why do I have to be bullied?" Connie frowned.

"They're just jealous." Titanium soothed.

"I guess." Connie said.

"It'll get better," Titanium told her. "I promise you."

Connie was unsure, but she smiled to him due to their close bond.

And where Titanium was right and where he even had times when going out and using his powers to save the day whenever he heard danger on Earth. Princess Luna and Cherry continued to watch until it would all be over.

"I guess there's more to visiting Beach City than I thought there'd be." Cherry remarked to her Dream-Walking mentor.

"Indeed." Princess Luna nodded.

They soon saw the vision was ending with Titanium able to take on supervillains, even powerful ones, like Bizarro.

"...Luna?" Cherry spoke up.

"Yes, Cherry?" Princess Luna replied.

"Was it my imagination or did I just see Bizarro Superman?" Cherry asked.

"It was not just your imagination." Princess Luna said.

"So, that means from this vision it showed us that Titanium is even stronger and faster and more powerful than Kryptonians or at least a clone of a Kryptonian?" Cherry asked.

"He could very well be in his own way," Princess Luna stated. "Though, as you've seen, Titanium was apart of the Crystal Gems. He's a bit like Homeworld's Superman."

"Well, this is my first time of hearing of male Gems since most of the ones I've seen and heard about were female," Cherry replied. "Like I thought maybe Ruby was a boy."

"I know, it was surprising for me too." Princess Luna said.

"It's time to wake up you two." Jessica's voice said.

"Huh? What?" Cherry asked.

"This was nice, Cherry, I'll see you again later." Princess Luna waved.

"Oh, I guess it's time to wake up," Cherry said as everything began to fade away. "Bye, Luna! See you later!"


	2. Chapter 2

Cherry and Atticus soon woke up and where as they woke up they saw why Jessica woke them up as they were getting closer to Beach City.

"We're about there," Jessica smiled. "It looks as if I had never left."

"I don't even remember coming here." Atticus commented.

"Well, you were just a baby then," Jessica smiled. "I'm sure you would've seen more if you could, but better late than never."

"Yeah, but Jessica totally random question, but do you remember a Crystal Gem named Titanium?" Atticus asked. He soon got his answer as Jessica swerved a bit after hearing that name.

"Gah!" Atticus, Cherry, and Mo yelped from that.

Jessica nearly crashed into a sign before looking wide-eyed to her younger brother. "How and why do you know that name?" she then asked, a bit dramatically.

"My vision power showed me two different pasts and one of them was his." Atticus said.

"...You actually saw Titanium?" Jessica asked.

"Yeah... So, do you know him?" Atticus asked his older sister.

"Yeah... Well... I did..." Jessica replied softly.

"So, he did leave the Crystal Gems all because Rose Quartz gave up her phsyical form so then Steven could live." Atticus frowned.

"Yeah... I think he was jealous," Jessica sighed softly. "Titanium and Aunt Rose were pretty close with each other before Steven was born."

"That feels unfair that Rose Quartz had to give up her physical form in order for Steven to be born." Cherry said.

"Yeah, it was pretty heartbreaking," Jessica pouted. "Rose was very close to me when I was a little girl. She always looked after me whenever Mom and Dad were busy back then. I guess you could say she was my godmother."

"Titanium wasn't jealous; he just didn't want to stay, knowing that seeing Steven's gem would just be a reminder that Rose was never going to come back." Atticus said.

"It was pretty rough on him," Jessica frowned. "So, you had a vision about him?"

"Yeah," Atticus nodded. "He seemed pretty cool though."

"Hm, I thought you might like him," Jessica smirked a bit then. "I guess you could call him the Superman of the Crystal Gems."

"With the powers I saw from the vision, I'd say so." Atticus said.

"Jessica, did you know about this?" Cherry asked.

"Well, no..." Jessica replied. "At least not a whole lot. It happened sometime after Atticus was taken from me and our parents."

"So other than Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst; is there anyone else we'll meet?" Mo asked.

"Well... There's Steven." Jessica said.

"The human/Gem hybrid." Atticus replied.

"Yes." Jessica nodded to that.

"Does he have little sister?" Mo asked.

"Uh, I don't think that would be possible." Jessica replied since Rose ceased to exist after Steven was born.

"Oh, right." Mo said.

"Did Rose ever tell you or Mom and Dad about having someone she used to play with?" Atticus asked his sister.

"SomeONE or someTHING?" Jessica asked.

"Someone," Atticus clarified. "You know, like a playmate."

"Hmm... I'd have to think about that, but not that I'm aware of..." Jessica pondered to herself as they began ride along the beach, coming near a beach house that was there as the ocean gently splashed and waved in the distance. "Why do you ask?"

"Um, well, because the first vision I had was of Pink Diamond AKA Rose Quartz having a playmate who had a heart-shaped gem on her chest and where they used to play whenever she was sad," Atticus said. "But then she told her playmate that they were going to play a game and the only rule was that her playmate couldn't leave the garden." 

"Spinel...?" Cherry muttered to herself thoughtfully.

"Hmm..." Jessica paused. "Well, Aunt Rose never told me about anything like that."

"Strange." Atticus commented.

They soon pulled up beside the beach house which made Jessica smile in nostalgia. Atticus smiled, happy for his sister before he looked up and saw a girl by the beach house. Jessica soon came out with the others to see the beach house up close together.

"Wait, who's that girl?" Mo asked.

"Connie?" Cherry wondered to herself.

"Let's go see who it is." Jessica said.

The adventure group soon walked toward the beach house as the girl read a magazine.

"Um, hey." Atticus spoke up.

"Huh? Oh. Hello." The girl said, looking up from her magazine.

"We're looking for the Crystal Gems and Steven Universe and his father Greg Universe." Jessica said.

"Oh, Steven should be here soon," The girl smiled. "I wanna see him before I have to leave for a while from Beach City."

"Where are you headed?" Mo asked.

"I'm going to space camp this summer." The girl smiled proudly.

"That's so cool." Atticus smiled back.

"Oh, where are our manners? I'm Jessica Fudo and this is my little brother, Atticus Fudo and his pet dalmatian, Patch and his best friend Cherry Butler and his girlfriend and soon-to-be-bride Mo Brown." Jessica introduced.

"Jessica..." Atticus and Mo blushed from the last part.

"Isn't it true though?" Jessica smirked to her little brother and future sister-in-law.

"You guys are getting married?" The girl asked Atticus and Mo. "Are you old enough?"

"Yeah, we're young adults now," Atticus smiled bashfully. "Mo's always been the sunshine of my life."

"You are the apple of my eye~" Cherry sang from that part with a smirk.

"Really?" Mo asked her.

"He started it." Cherry smirked.

"Nice to meet you guys," The girl smiled. "My name is Connie Maheswaran."

"It's nice to meet you, Connie." Jessica smiled back.

"Nice to meet you too," Connie said. "So, you're not from Beach City, huh?"

"No, we live in Greendale," Atticus replied. "It's a bit far, but not too far from here. So, where's your friend Steven?"

"You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you unless you were from around here." Connie said a bit bashfully.

"Try us." Atticus said.

"Well, my friend Steven is up in outer space right now," Connie soon began to explain. "White Diamond wanted to speak with him along with Blue and Yellow Diamonds. The Diamonds are very high and noble in the world of the Crystal Gems from what the others had told me."

"Is he giving an announcement with them or something?" Mo asked.

"Yes, he's being asked to ascend to the throne with them as 'the new Pink Diamond'." Connie replied.

"No doubt he'll say no since he has a home on Earth." Jessica said.

"Knowing Steven, yes," Connie nodded. "You seem to know him pretty well even though you haven't met him."

"I actually knew his mother." Jessica smiled.

"...You knew Rose Quartz?" Connie asked out of amazement.

"Mm-hmm," Jessica nodded proudly. "She was like another mother to me."

"So then you know that she was Pink Diamond?" Connie asked.

"Yeah, I knew about that." Jessica nodded.

"It was so shocking to me," Connie replied. "I mean, we've all thought about it maybe being true, but once it actually was, it was just astounding."

"I can imagine why, especially since I spent all my childhood calling her 'Auntie Rose'." Jessica sighed softly.

"So, wonder how long it's going to take him to get back to Earth?" Atticus said.

"I'm not sure, but I hope it's soon," Connie replied. "I really wanna see Steven before I have to leave."

"Ooh... Is Steven more than just a friend to you?" Cherry smirked.

"...Maybe?" Connie blushed from that question.

"Ooh, that blush tells us that he's more than just a friend." Mo teased playfully.

Connie blushed a bit more. "Oh! Uh, I think Steven's coming now." she then said bashfully.

A noise was soon heard which was a warp pad, showing a boy with curly black hair, a pink jacket, a blue under shirt with a yellow star on it, blue jean shorts, and sandals.

"Steven!" Connie smiled as she came to hug the boy. "What took so long?"

"The Diamonds," The boy sighed to her. "They reeeally want me to move in."

"Why?" Jessica asked.

"Because they wanna smother me with affection, 24/7." The boy replied.

Connie giggled from that. "Sounds fun!"

"No, it doesn't," The boy said before looking over. "Uh, Connie? Did you make some new friends while I was gone?" he then asked.

"Hey, Steven; I'm Jessica Fudo and this is my little brother, Atticus and this is Dalmatian, Patch and his best friend, Cherry Butler and his girlfriend and future bride, Mo Brown."

"Hmm... You look somewhat familiar... I'm not sure why..." Steven said to Jessica.

"I guess you wouldn't remember me; after all, you were only a baby when we met." Jessica smiled.

"So I do know you?" Steven asked.

"A little bit," Jessica smiled. "I used to live around here when I was much younger. Amethyst and I were like best friends."

"Oh, sweet!" Steven smiled back. "Well, it's good to see you then."

"Well, I'm glad I got to see you before heading out." Connie soon told Steven.

"You're really going through with it?" Steven asked her.

They soon went to get going as Connie had to run along about now.

"Of course!" Connie smiled to Steven. "I've always wanted to go to space camp."

"But you've literally been to space multiple times!" Steven told the human girl. "And you've done way cooler stuff than just camp there."

"My parents are doing what they can to support my interests. It's sweet!" Connie smiled as she then went to pick up her duffel bag. "Plus, I get all the free extra ice cream I can eat."

"Have fun," Atticus smiled. "We tried out a space camp thing once with Patch's good friend, Robyn."

Patch nodded in agreement.

"But Sadie Killer and the Suspects are playing tonight!" Steven pried to Connie. "Isn't a rock show a little better than space camp?"

"It's maybe equal to space camp," Connie said before looking at her phone to get a message. "That's my mom. I should get going."

The two soon hugged as Connie briefly turned away, blushing with her arms crossed before giving Steven a peck on the cheek.

"Aww~" Atticus, Jessica, Mo, and Patch cooed from that.

"Aww~" Oddball's voice added from behind Jessica's leg.

"Oddball!" Patch smiled to his niece. "I didn't see you there."

"I fell asleep in the car." Oddball smiled back sheepishly.

"I wondered where you were?" Jessica smiled back as she picked up her Dalmatian.

"Aww..." Connie cooed to Oddball.

"This is Oddball." Jessica smiled.

"She sure is a cutie." Connie smiled back.

Oddball beamed from that.

"Sorry you have to see me just as I'm leaving." Connie told the young Dalmatian as she had to go meet her mother.

"Tell everyone at space camp that space used to be super scary and dangerous, but it's great now!" Steven quickly told Connie.

"I will!" Connie called back as she waved while leaving.

'I wonder if she'll say goodbye Titanium and see him after camp?' Atticus thought to himself.

Steven sighed as he was on his own, having a lot on his mind.

"You okay, Steven?" Jessica asked.

"Yeah, I guess I'm just thinking." Steven smiled.

'And cue song.' Patch thought to himself.

"Here we are in the future, Here we are in the future and it's bright~," Steven began to sing. "Nothing to fear, No one to fight, I can't believe we've come so far, Happily ever after here we are~"

'Called it.' Patch thought to himself.

Oddball smiled as she began to follow after Steven curiously.

"Once upon a time, I thought I'd always be in my mother's shadow~," Steven sang, taking a photograph which had the Gems known as Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl on it. "Answering for her crimes I thought I'd always be in an endless battle, Until I began to hone, A power all my own~"

The others began to follow Steven inside as he reminisced about his past a bit.

"That I could feel growing stronger every day~," Steven smiled to his possible new friends. "And now I saved the world, Not just that; the whole galaxy saved, We did it!, Here we are in the future!~"

They soon went outside where Steven's dad and Pearl were. A lion was shown to be asleep as Pearl strummed a guitar while Greg sat back and relaxed.

"Pearl! Uncle Greg!" Jessica beamed.

"Jessica, is that you? Oh, you've grown so big," Pearl beamed back and saw Atticus. "Oh, and is that young man next you your little brother, Atticus?"

"Yes, it is," Atticus smiled. "Hello there, I guess you're Pearl?"

"That would be me," Pearl replied. "Oh, look at how big and strong you look."

"Well, I have been keeping myself in great shape and been through lots of adventures." Atticus smiled.

"It's so good to meet and see you," Pearl smiled. "And I see you have some friends."

Everyone then introduced themselves to Pearl and Greg, though Pearl looked a bit startled of Patch and Oddball.

"Don't be scared," Jessica smiled before carrying Oddball in her arms. "Patch and Oddball won't hurt you."

"Oddball, huh?" Greg asked. "That's an interesting name."

"Sure is." Jessica smiled.

"So, I see you're learning to play the bass (base), Pearl." Cherry said.

"I told you that's how you said that." Greg told Pearl.

"I still believe it's bass." Pearl replied, pronouncing like the fish name.

"Trust me, it's 'base'." Cherry told her.

"Excuse me, B-A-S-S spells 'bass'." Pearl said.

"You're the boss." Greg replied.

"Aw, jeez, look at this." Cherry rolled her eyes.

"Heck, yes, I am!" Pearl beamed, jumping to the top of the van.

"Whoa... A pink lion." Cherry said.

"You're not scared, are ya?" Greg asked.

"Psh," Cherry rolled her eyes indifferently. "I have a pet tiger."

'It's time for Pearl's time to sing.' Jessica thought to herself.

"Once upon a time, I only lived to be of Pink Diamond's service~," Pearl began to sing to herself with Oddball beaming as her singing voice sounded very beautiful. "'Til the day the two of us snuck down to be on this planet's surface, We became our fantasy, And I was sure she set me free, But in the end I guess I never left her side, And after love and loss and all the tears that I cried, I find that~"

Jessica patted Pearl on the hand in comfort who then smiled, appreciating said comfort.

"Here we are in the future!~" Pearl and Steven then smiled to each other.

The pink lion yawned as the singing woke him up and he soon came out of the van.

"Hey, there." Cherry leaned back with a small smirk.

The pink lion sniffed her and put his paw on her face, seeming to like her a bit.

"Hey, buddy," Steven said as he pet the lion on his forehead. "I'm going into town!" he then told his father and Pearl.

"See you at the concert?" Greg asked him.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world!" Steven smiled as he stepped back and dove into Lion's mane.

Jessica blinked strangely with Oddball.

"Ah... We heard about that in school..." Cherry commented.

"You heard about Steven in school?" Greg asked in surprise. "What kinda school do you guys go to back home?"

"Let's just say our school is special." Mo said.

"So, where is Steven headed?" Atticus asked.

"Hmm... He must be going to see Garnet." Greg replied.

"Through Lion's mane?" Cherry asked.

"Yeah, I think she's in there," Greg replied. "Good luck trying to get in though."

The adventure group looked to their gemstone necklaces and soon used them against Lion's mane which seemed to show them a way inside, and which was a world inside of the pink lion's mane. The group looked around in amazement as Steven hummed along before suddenly leaving with the others following him to go and see Garnet as they came out of a teenage boy's pink hair.

"I don't even know how that happened." Patch muttered.

"Guess it's our new gemstones." Cherry replied.

Garnet and a group were shown inside a donut restaurant called The Big Donut and soon took a hold of Steven with a smile to have him sit with her. "I saved you a seat."

"Thanks, Garnet." Steven smiled.

"Great to see you again, Garnet." Jessica added.

"Jessie Fudo?" Garnet asked.

"Mm-hmm!" Jessica smiled and nodded.

"Oh... Look at how beautiful you are," Garnet smiled back to her. "You're all grown up."

"And not just me." Jessica smiled back as Atticus walked up by her side.

"Ah... Atticus..." Garnet said. "I always knew you would grow up big and strong like a royal guard."

"Heh... I dunno about being a royal guard full-time, but I had some training with a friend's brother." Atticus smiled sheepishly, obviously referring to Shining Armor.

"I sense a great future for you, especially with this charming girl." Garnet replied before looking to Mo when she said that.

"Well, you're right about that," Mo smiled as her engagement ring shined. "I'm Mo Brown or the future Mrs. Fudo."

"Oh... What a beautiful ring." Garnet smiled back as she took a hold of Mo's left hand.

"Thank you, Garnet," Mo smiled. "Also, this is Cherry, Atticus's best friend, Patch his dog, and Oddball, Jessica's dog."

Oddball and Patch smiled as they both bowed to Garnet on all fours before she bowed back while standing before them.

"Once upon a time, a Sapphire came to Earth with her Ruby soldier~," Garnet soon sang as she thought about when she was two separate beings before they did the Fusion Dance in order for her to exist. "Sapphire's deadly fate was set until the Ruby rushed in to hold her, Suddenly they were fusing, Beautiful, strange, confusing, And there I was, a bundle of questions, so naïve, That if you told me this I never would have believed you then but~"

"Here we are in the future!~" Steven and Garnet then sang together.

"I'm gonna save this." Steven said as he made a pink bubble appear around a slice of cake before making it transport away.

"Garnet, do you know where Amethyst is?" Jessica asked.

"I have every idea where anyone is." Garnet smirked, adjusting her visor.

Atticus, Jessica, and Steven chuckled a bit to that.

"You'll find her if you head to Little Homeworld," Garnet then smiled. "Take the warp!"

"Little Homeworld?" Jessica and Atticus asked out of confusion.

"It's kind of like a home away from Homeworld." Garnet explained.

"Okay, and as for the warp?" Mo asked.

"It would be that." Jessica said as she pointed to a crystallized platform.

"How does it work?" Oddball wondered, climbing up onto it. Suddenly, the young Dalmatian soon transported away instantly.

"Oddball!" The group gasped.

"It's okay," Jessica smiled. "It's like a transporter. She just beat us to Amethyst though."

"Ohh." The group smiled.

They soon got on the warp pad next and were soon transported away to Little Homeworld.

Oddball looked scared for some reason as Steven and the others went to walk off, but nearly fell off the edge after being transported.

"Careful, dudes!" Amethyst smirked as she lassoed them with a whip, pulling them back over to safety.

"Whew!" Jessica sighed. "Thanks, Amethyst."

"Do I know you?" Amethyst asked.

"It's me," Jessica smiled. "Jessie Fudo."

"Jessie?!" Amethyst asked before looking up and down at her before laughing. "Heh! It IS you! But you know what this means, right?" she then asked dramatically.

"Uh...?" Jessica blinked nervously.

"You owe me something very valuable..." Amethyst said seriously. "Come closer... Kneel down a little... You're so tall now."

Jessica gulped nervously, getting down on her knees and came closer to Amethyst.

"You know what time it is?" Amethyst asked.

"No?" Jessica replied.

"NOOGIE TIME!" Amethyst smirked, grabbing Jessica in a headlock and gave her a noogie.

"Oh! Right!" Jessica laughed.

"How's the weather up there, Jess?" Amethyst smirked, pressing their faces together.

"Partly cloudy with a side of shortstuff." Jessica smirked back.

"Thanks for saving us from falling off the warp, Amethyst." Steven smiled at her.

Amethyst chuckled with a smirk as she soon let go of Jessica. Jessica then introduced everybody to her best friend of the Crystal Gem group. Suddenly, the warp pad was lifted upwards and everyone began to hold on tight.

"What's going on?" Mo yelped.

A rainbow-haired big figure and a mostly blue figure were seen on a platform attached to the crane which held the warp pad.

"Steven!" The rainbow-haired figure told the curly-haired boy. "You're just in time. We're about to install the new warp."

"Which means Little Homeworld is 83.7% complete!" A green figure added, floating by.

"Is that Invader ZIM?" Cherry asked.

"I don't think so." Atticus replied.

"Only 83.7%?!" The blue girl asked the green one before flying off on a pair of wings that looked like they were made out of water. "We'd better get cracking!"

"I'm on it!" The rainbow-haired figure replied, cranking the lever to lower the warp pad.

"It sure looks amazing." Jessica smiled at Little Homeworld.

"Why, thank you!" The rainbow-haired figure replied.

"Jessica, that's Bismuth, Peridot, and the one who just left was Lapis Lazuli." Amethyst informed since the final three were new since the last time Jessica was in Beach City.

"It's very nice to meet you both." Jessica smiled to the two gems.

"Erm... Nice to, uh, see you too." Peridot said, trying to be social.

"You seem nice enough," Bismuth added. "Are you Jessica that we've heard about?"

"Yeah, I used to live around here when I was a little girl before my brother was born," Jessica smiled before sighing. "Then we had to move to Spoonerville..."

"There sure are a lot of Gems here." Atticus said as he saw how many Homeworld Gems were in Little Homeworld.

"I think it's cool to see many kinds and new ones we haven't heard about from school." Cherry added.

"Schools talk about us?" Steven asked in surprise.

"We, uh, go to a special school," Cherry replied before stammering as she wasn't sure that it would be okay to say anything more. "It... Um... Well..."

"You can tell them," Jessica said. "They're technically not mortals."

"Whew... That's good." Cherry sighed.

"Maybe I could fix that rule too." Atticus said.

"Atticus, you are not going to be Head of the Witch's Council when you grow up." Cherry rolled her eyes.

"You never know." Atticus shrugged.

"Sure is nice that all these gems have a home, right, Amethyst?" Jessica asked.

"It sure is something," Amethyst nodded to her before sighing softly. "Wish I'd had this when I first emerged..."

Oddball looked curious of what Amethyst meant by that, but of course, she was about to find out.

"Once upon a time I burst to life inside of the Kindergarten~," Amethyst soon sang about her backstory. "A product of a war that I had no idea I had a part in, I came out late and alone, Knew nothing but my home, But I know now exactly who I'm s'posed to be, And it's a part of this family!~"

The warp pad was soon placed in the center of Little Homeworld. Oddball couldn't help but relate a little to Amethyst as she felt like a misfit among her brothers before she earned her spots, but at least she had Jessica and her Uncle Patch there to help her out a little.

"So... Whatya think?" Amethyst asked Steven after they landed.

"If I could stop right here and be~," Steven sang as Garnet and Pearl warped in and he soon took out his phone to take a picture with all of his Crystal Gem friends. "Finally done, Finally us, Finally we... Are in the future~"

"Here we are in the future and it's bright~" Steven and the others sang as they were now running across a field of grass.

The adventure group soon followed after the Crystal Gems.

"Nothing to fear, no one to fight~," Steven and the others sang together. "I can't believe we've come so far~"

"Happily ever after~" Steven sang.

"Happily ever after~" The others sang.

"Here we are~" Steven and the others sang.


	3. Chapter 3

Meanwhile with Titanium...

Connie and her mother soon rode off to space camp as Titanium meditated a bit in a room that was given to him in the house as a fellow resident since he first met the family when he came down to Earth. His mind was soon shown in a blue room.

Titanium opened his eyes as he then sat up and wandered through his journey of the mind. He soon saw a group that were just images of how he thought the Crystal Gems would react to his return.

"Hey... Is that...?" Pearl spoke up.

"Hi, Pearl," Titanium smiled hopefully. "Long time no see?"

"What are you doing here?" Pearl asked.

"I thought it would be nice to see you again." Titanium replied.

"After you just left us after Steven was born?!" Amethyst glared.

"Wh-What...?" Titanium asked, feeling a bit sick from that quip.

"How could you, Titanium?" Garnet crossed her arms. "Rose would not like this at all."

"She would have wanted you to stay and help us raise Steven." Amethyst told him.

"I-I know." Titanium frowned.

"Why did you abandon us?" Garnet asked sharply.

"I-I'm sorry... I just..." Titanium said, backing up anxiously. "I didn't mean to ditch you guys."

"Yeah! Well, you did!" Amethyst huffed. "I used to think you were cool!"

"It was a dumb and selfish thing to do; I realize that." Titanium told them.

The Crystal Gems glared at him like they didn't want anything to do with him.

"Come on, guys," Amethyst told Garnet and Pearl. "Let's let Titanium here be by himself."

Titanium frowned as he should have expected that. But just as the Crystal Gems vanished, Rose appeared in Titanium's thoughts as he thought how she would have greeted him.

"Rose..." Titanium whispered in a bit of surprise.

"Hello, Titanium." Rose greeted softly.

"I-I'm so sorry for leaving the Crystal Gems; it's just when you gave up your physical form so Steven could live, I-I felt like I lost a dear close friend to me." Titanium frowned as tears came out before he felt her hug him.

"Oh, Titanium..." Rose whispered while hugging him. "I've lost a friend too. And that friend was you. I miss you all very much, but Steven gets to enjoy life in my absence and while he loves himself, that's me loving him back, along with you, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl."

"And Bismuth?" Titanium asked.

"I'm sure if you show you're sorry for leaving and still want to be friends, that Bismuth, Lapis Lazuli, and even Peridot will all love and care about you as much as I had," Rose smiled, looking right into his eyes warmly and sincerely. "I could never get mad at you."

"And even if the others do get mad, they won't stay mad forever." Titanium said softly.

"They'll probably be upset, but I'm sure if you explain what happened, they'll understand slowly but surely." Rose advised.

"Right." Titanium nodded.

"Just promise me you'll be honest with them." Rose smiled.

"Honesty is the best policy." Titanium smiled back.

Rose soon gave him another hug and gave him a friendly kiss on the cheek to comfort his worries and fears about seeing the other Crystal Gems again after so long. And where that seemed to do the trick as Titanium opened his eyes.

Titanium was soon back in the guest room. "Yeah... That's what I'll do...." he then told himself as he felt motivated now. He soon got up and left the house and took off to the sky to see where he would find the Crystal Gems.

Meanwhile, Steven came to the top of a hill with the others. Oddball smiled as she watched Steven, looking curious of what he was doing. Steven picked a flower, then stuck his pinkie finger in his mouth, using the spit to restore the flower he picked.

"Amazing." Mo smiled.

"Ew... Why'd you do that?" Oddball asked.

"Help give back to the flower." Steven smiled.

"Uncle Patch, I'm going to be a Crystal Gem someday too." Oddball proclaimed.

"Talking animals are funny." Steven chuckled a bit.

"You'll get used to it." Patch shrugged.

"I want everything to stay exactly like this, and never change." Steven smiled to his Gem friends, lying against the hill with them.

"Agreed." Pearl nodded to that.

"Here, here." Amethyst added.

"Couldn't agree more." Jessica said before seeing someone flying that Steven and The Crystal Gems didn't notice.

"How's the future look, Garnet?" Steven soon asked the Fusion Gem. "Do we all stay just like this, forever?"

Garnet smiled as she adjusted her visor before frowning as she sat up to say, "No."

Oddball gulped nervously. "No?!" she then repeated, scaredly.

"Should have known." Cherry grumbled.

Something soon flew in the sky, blowing wind down on them as it made the sky look shadowed from arrival. Suddenly, a strange injector-like ship lowered, tilting to point toward the hill with a figure shown at the top.

"Hey! Are you Steven Universe?" A voice demanded.

"Um, yes...?" Steven replied sheepishly.

"Perfect." The figure grinned as her finger transformed into a giant horn, almost morphing like a Toon like Roger Rabbit, and she blew it, causing a sharp point and legs to emerge from the ship.

"Everyone get out of the way!" Titanium's voice called out.

"That voice..." Amethyst whispered to herself.

A giant drill soon came out which looked a bit frightening.

"Move!" Garnet called out as she picked up and ran with Amethyst.

The Gems then ran from the ship with Atticus, Cherry, Mo, Patch, Jessica, and Oddball as the legs attached to the sides of the hill, and the point drills into the center of it.

"Hey! Nice park job, dingus!" Amethyst soon jeered.

A familiar figure to the Crystal Gems and Jessica from past experience and familiar to Atticus and Cherry from his vision landed on the ground just as the drill from the ship went into the ground.

"Titanium..." Jessica whispered to herself in surprise.

"And he has company." Oddball then said.

The figure smirked as her gemstone shimmered, looking like an upside down heart. "Well, well, well, well!" she then said, shape-shifting her hand and eye to act as a telescope. "Lemme get a look at the menagerie!"

Oddball whimpered and hid behind Patch as that scared her a bit.

"You must be Garnet and you must be Amethyst," The figure smirked before seeing Pearl a glare. "And Pink Diamond's Pearl, she took you with her; isn't that just swell?"

"It can't be..." Pearl muttered about the figure.

"Not to mention she also brought along Titanium." Cherry spoke up.

"Did I hear a little rat squeak?" The figure smirked to Cherry.

"Uh, who me? I didn't say anything." Cherry said bashfully.

"Oh, and it can be." The figure smirked at Pearl.

"What are you doing here?" Titanium asked the figure as he joined Steven and the others.

"Oh, don't you just like my new style?" The figure smirked. "And a few new toys that are gonna put an end to your 'happily ever after', once and for all!"

"Wh-Whoa, this has gotta be a misunderstanding," Steven spoke up nervously. "In case you haven't heard, I've established peace across--"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've heard," The figure replied before stretching her leg to kick his face. "I've had your little message to the universe... On loop!"

"We better get out our weapons." Patch said.

The group soon began to do that, their gemstone necklaces glowing a bit in the process. Atticus and Cherry soon drew out swords while Patch growled protectively in front of Oddball and Mo shook her fists as the Crystal Gems soon brought out weapons of their own.

"Oh, I just looove that part, where Pink Diamond spends the rest of her days on this nowhere planet, with a bunch of nobodies!" The figure grinned as she used her arms as springs and bounced down to the ground.

"I'll show you a nobody." Cherry narrowed her eyes.

'Villain song in 3, 2, 1.' Jessica thought to herself.

"That's right I heard the story over and over again~," The figure smirked as she stretched over to hassle Steven and the other Crystal Gems. "Gee, it's swell to finally meet her other friends, That's right I heard the story, don't really like how it ends, Gee, it's swell to finally meet her other friends~" She soon grabbed Pearl starting off by messing around with her. "What did say about me, what did she say?~" The figure sang as she messed with Pearl by her feet controlling them like a puppet.

"This person is really creeping me out." Mo commented.

"I think that might be Spinel." Cherry remarked.

"What did you do without me? What did you do?~" Spinel mocked as she soon bounced Amethyst on her feet. "Did you play games without me? What did you play?~" she then sang while wiggling Garnet all over her arms before seeing someone coming toward her with a sword. "Did you think all this time that I wouldn't find out about you?~"

Cherry soon ran toward the figure only to be tripped and was soon swung right against Atticus and Mo, making them all fall on top of each other. Titanium looked ready to fight Spinel as he stood in front of Steven.

"Did you think all this time that I wouldn't find out about you?~" Spinel soon towered over Steven and Titanium before grabbing the Crystal Gems with her arms and legs. "That's right I heard the story over and over again, Gee, it's swell to finally meet her other friends, Who am I? Who am I? What are you even saying?~"

"You're annoying." Cherry mumbled a response to that.

"No complaints here." Mo said.

"She's running circles around us." Garnet told the others.

"I'm rusty," Amethyst groaned. "Give me a break."

"It really is her, but she can't be serious." Pearl soon realized.

"You know her, Pearl?" Steven blinked in surprise. "Can you tell us who she is?"

"It's Spinel, right?" Cherry asked.

"You know who Spinel is?" Pearl asked Cherry back in shock.

Spinel looked offended before she continued to sing and brought out a weapon. "Who am I? Who am I? What are you even saying?~ she then glared. "I'm the loser of the game you didn't know you were playing!, Let's play another game this time I get to win, Lives on the line, Winner takes all, Ready or not, Let's begin!~"

Everyone soon ran off together as it looked like Spinel had a scythe.

"I have a bad feeling about that scythe." Oddball whimpered.

"I won't let it get you." Patch soothed protectively.

"Oh, that's right I heard the story over and over again~," Spinel sang, spinning all around, kicking Steven and Cherry out of her way as she swung her scythe. "Gee, it's swell to finally beat her other friends, Oh, that's right I heard the story, don't really like how it ends, Gee, it's swell to finally beat her other~"

"Atticus, NO!" Cherry cried out as Atticus and the Crystal Gems soon charged toward Spinel. "Other, Other friends~"

Suddenly, it seemed like Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl had been sliced in half and Atticus's gemstone necklace was cut by the string and the gemstone shattered, turning pure black and his body soon glowed until he soon seemed to fade away in thin air.

"W-What's happening to him?" Patch frowned, concerned for his master.

Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl soon poofed up into smoke and their gemstones were left behind, though Garnet became the two which created her Fusion Form: Ruby and Sapphire. Cherry frowned, picking up Atticus's gemstone, trying to activate it somehow with the other gems, but nothing happened. She looked as sad and lost as Twilight trying to fix the Elements of Harmony after Sombra had destroyed the Tree of Harmony.

"That's enough!" Steven glared to Spinel as he brought out his shield.

"Aw, what's the matter, Steven? You miss your friends and new friend already?" Spinel mocked before smirking. "Well, don't worry, you and Titanium and the rest of your new friends are right behind 'em, and I'll start with you."

"You're not going to do anything to Steven as long as I'm around, Spinel!" Titanium glared.

"All right then... Let's dance!" Spinel grinned as she spun in the air and slashed her scythe down.

"No!" Steven cried out as he jumped in the way, taking the hit for Titanium.

"Steven!" Titanium cried out before seeing that Steven didn't poof. "That's right, you're half-human."

Steven soon laughed and smirked. "Haha! That was nothing!"

"I don't get it though," Patch said. "How did Spinel hurt Atticus?"

"Because he's part Crystal Pony." Cherry memorized.

"Oh, no, what are we going to do?" Oddball frowned up at Jessica.

"Then you won't mind if I do it again." Spinel smirked at Steven as she slashed her Scythe at him again, again, and again.

"I... I don't know what to do..." Jessica said to Oddball, trying her hardest not to cry.

"Stop it, you crazed-up Froot Loop!" Cherry cried out to Spinel.

"You don't poof, do you...?" Spinel smirked as Steven soon grabbed a hold of her scythe. "Figured as much. Just wait! Your human half won't stand a chance against my injector... Not after what I just did to your gem!~"

"Spinel, you didn't." Titanium glared in disgust.

"Oh, but I did." Spinel smirked.

"What are both of you talking about?!" Steven asked.

"You weren't always a powerful hero, were you?" Spinel smirked to Steven before letting out another manic laugh.

Steven soon wrested control of Spinel's scythe and cleaved her physical form in half, poofing her instantly.

"Cheese and Crackers!" Oddball cried out, burying her face in Jessica's lap as her owner had fallen to her knees.

Jessica soon hugged Oddball while looking emotionally sick to her stomach and overwhelmed over what had just happened. Steven soon sighed before he shivered as the yellow streaks around his body went away.

"You okay?" Patch asked him.

"I... I think so..." Steven sighed as he soon went to take Spinel's gemstone. "I better bubble you before anything else happens."

The gem soon went in the bubble at first before popping instantly.

"What...?" Steven muttered as he went to try again, but nothing seemed to happen. "Where's my bubble?" he then grabbed the gem and went into a deep concentration. "Come on..."

"Steven, stop." Titanium said.

"I gotta do something." Steven told him.

"I'm afraid there's nothing you can do." Titanium frowned.

"I have to do something too," Cherry said, trying to make the gems somehow bring back Atticus since he wasn't there anymore like the other Crystal Gems. "I want my friend back."

"The only thing we can do is bring them inside and wait for them to take form." Titanium said.

Steven looked to him before looking very curious. "Who are you?" he then asked.

"I am Titanium," Titanium replied. "I'm like you, a Crystal Gem."

"I... I don't know you..." Steven said to him. "I don't think Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl ever talked about you."

"I'll explain why they never talked about me." Titanium said as they collected the gems.

Cherry looked up to Titanium.

Titanium soon took the gem she had.

"Please... I need Atticus back..." Cherry begged. "He's my best friend."

"We ALL need him back." Mo told Cherry.

"Don't worry, he'll be back," Titanium told Mo and Cherry before seeing Jessica walking up to him. "Hello, Jessica."

"Titanium...?" Jessica asked in shock. "Is that really you?"

"Of course it is," Titanium replied. "I guess it's been a pretty long time."

"It sure has," Jessica said. "But I'm just surprised because I've been seeing you in the papers as a mysterious superhero."

Titanium looked sheepish then.

"Sorry, but trust me, I know a superhero when I see one." Jessica said, hinting a bit to how she would know.

"Anyway, we better get inside." Patch said.

"Come right this way then." Titanium said.

Cherry sighed before she soon went to go with the others inside as she looked very upset and worried about her best friend. Steven noticed that his gem was glowing which concerned him a bit and they placed the gemstones on the coffee table in front of the couch, wondering what to do next.

"Now all we do is wait." Titanium said.

They soon waited as the clock ticked in the background which seemed to emphasize the long passage of time.

"STEVEN!" Greg cried out as he soon burst in through the door. "I came as fast as I could! Are you okay?!"

"We're fine, Uncle Greg, but my brother and the Crystal Gems? Not so much." Jessica replied.

Greg soon saw what she meant as he saw the Crystal Gems' gem forms on the table along with Atticus's gem and Spinel's. "Holy... She got everybody!" he then gasped before looking to the heart-shaped gemstone. "Is that her?"

"Yeah..." Steven replied.

"Who...?" Greg asked.

"Apparently her name is Spinel." Mo replied.

"Why?!" Greg asked.

"No idea." Steven frowned.

"I think it's because she might be angry about something." Cherry said.

"HOW?!" Greg then asked, sounding more like a child than his son who was sounding more like a mature adult.

"She hit all of us with this." Steven said, bringing out Spinel's weapon from his jacket pocket before bringing out the blade which made Greg flinch in shock until his son stored it back in again. "It did something extra weird to me, and now my powers aren't working right. Look." he then summoned his shield which fizzled erratically for a brief moment before dissipating.

"Whoa." Jessica yelped.

"There's something wrong with me, Dad," Steven sighed emotionally. "I just have no idea what's going on."

"Well, son, now you know how I feel almost all the time, but you know what else?" Greg smiled.

"What?" The others replied.

"Any moment now, the Gems are gonna do that thing where they glow and float in the air and reappear better than ever!" Greg replied, picking up Pearl's gemstone. "I'm not sure about your friend, Charley--"

"Cherry." Cherry corrected.

"Yeah, Cherry," Greg then said. "But maybe he'll do the same since he seems to be like the other Gems."

"Although they may not remember us." Titanium said.

"So... Titanium... It's been a long time..." Greg said.

"Yeah, I know..." Titanium sighed. "I'm sorry about your friend, Cherry."

Cherry pouted as she held onto Atticus's gemstone from Magic School since it was all she had left of him. Pearl's gemstone soon began glow and float in mid-air as she prepared to regenerate.

"See?" Greg then smiled. "Here she comes, good 'ol Pearl!"

But then the form of a clam was shown.

"That must be new." Jessica commented.

"Please identify yourself." Pearl's voice said from the clam.

"Um... Greg Universe?" Greg replied, feeling confused.

"Greetings, Um Greg Universe," Pearl's voice then said. "Please state preferred customization options."

"The heck is going on?" Cherry muttered a bit.

"That's how a Pearl starts out from the very beginning." Titanium told Cherry.

"What am I supposed to say here?" Greg asked Steven.

Cherry soon took out a notebook and began to take notes like she was in school.

"I-I dunno!" Steven said to his father.

"Default settings selected," The voice soon said. "Please stand by."

The clam shell descended to the house floor, as it opened and revealed a reforming Pearl who looked different from the others had seen and known her in present day.

"She's back!" Jessica smiled before frowning. "But she looks different."

"Reminds me of Pink Pearl." Titanium commented.

"Oh, that's right," Mo memorized from school. "Pearls sort of serve under Diamonds."

"Pretty much." Titanium nodded to that.

Cautious and somewhat curious, Steven and Greg approached Pearl.

"Pearl! Pearl, thank goodness you're back!" Steven beamed at first. "...Huh?"

"How do you do?~," Pearl bowed to Greg as she sang while taking his hands. "My Um Greg Universe, Thank you for bringing me into the world, I am at your eternal service, Welcome to your new Pearl!~"

"What's going on?!" Greg and Steven panicked.

"Could her gem be cracked?" Jessica asked.

"Uh... It looks fine to me..." Cherry said as she took a look at Pearl's namesake gem.

Suddenly, Ruby's gemstone began to glow, as she reformed into her original form as Sapphire's guard.

"Ruby!" Mo gasped.

"Seriously, I can't be the only one who thought that Ruby was a boy." Cherry commented from how Ruby looked.

"You're not the only one." Patch said.

"Ruby!" Steven called to the tomboy-like Gem. "Are... Are you okay?"

"Ah!" Ruby gasped, looking a bit hostile against Steven. "Who are you? You're not my assignment!"

"I could really use an explanation here..." Greg remarked uneasily as he scratched his head.

"And Pearl sings in 3, 2, 1." Titanium cued.

The others glanced to him before looking to Pearl as she came to sing again.

"Allow me to illuminate!" Pearl smiled and soon started to sing. "A Ruby Guard, But just a single one, They tend to come in teams of three or more~" she then showed a hologram of three other Rubys.

A blue gemstone soon glowed and formed into what looked like a tiny princess without a tiara.

"A precious Sapphire, She sees the future, That's who the Ruby's for~" Pearl then continued about the next Gem.

"My Sapphire, as my soul purpose; I will guard you with my life." Ruby told Sapphire.

"I know you will," Sapphire told Ruby. "That's why I predict you won't last more than a day."

"Huh?" Ruby blinked from that.

"Come, now." Sapphire told Ruby before leaving with her.

"Wow, that was dark." Cherry commented as Amethyst was soon next.

"Can you tell us about Titanium?" Patch asked Pearl.

"Titanium... Ah, yes..." Pearl smiled before coming up to the male Crystal Gem. "Titanium... Far less of a zero and much more of a hero, Strong, tall, and brave from Homeworld, Always protecting those in need and those who need help, Anything that might stop him, Might be hard to tell~"

"Aw, thanks, Pearl." Titanium smiled bashfully about the compliments of being strong, tall, and brave, not to mention being a hero.

Amethyst's gem soon glowed as she obtained her form which was of how she came out as from the Kindergarden.

"Amethyst..." Jessica said softly.

"Amethyst!" Steven called to the purple Gem, waving to her a bit. "Hey, Amethyst?"

"Hey, Amethyst?" Amethyst parroted as she waved back.

"What?!" Steven replied. "No, you're Amethyst!"

"What?! No, you're Amethyst!" Amethyst copied.

'And Pearl sings once again.' Oddball thought to herself.

"You must be right, This is an Amethyst~," Pearl smiled before examining Amethyst like she was funny looking. "Except an Amethyst is big and strong, This one is not the best example, Something is clearly wrong~"

Amethyst soon shrugged with Pearl.

"I-I do say, something is clearly wrong." Pearl then said.

Cherry frowned as she held onto Atticus's gemstone as it looked like she wouldn't be able to bring him back. She soon saw his gemstone glowing as it floated up in the air. She then gasped and backed up.

The gemstone soon glowed and Atticus was soon brought back, but he appeared to be around the age and size of a child in first grade.

"I... I have nothing to say about this one." Pearl said as Atticus was reborn somehow.

"Atticus!" Patch smiled.

"What are all these different Gems doing here in this strange place?" Pearl asked.

Atticus did a double take from Patch talking to him.

"Pearl, don't you recognize them?" Steven soon asked the Gem. "Don't you recognize me?"

"Hmm... Well, I certainly recognize my Um Greg Universe." Pearl replied.

"Oh, boy..." Greg mumbled to himself.

"As for you... Hmm..." Pearl hummed as she looked at Steven suspiciously before noticing Spinel's gem glowing.

Cherry, Mo, Jessica, Patch, and Oddball ducked down behind the couch in fear while Titanium got into a fighting and protective stance. Steven tried to summon his shield, but of course, it didn't work. The gem rotated upright into a proper heart shape, as the Gem laughed playfully and roped her rubber-like arms around Steven and launched herself toward him for a hug. Once finished reforming, Spinel looked at Steven with a smile, looking entirely different from before.

"She kinda looks like Mickey Mouse." Cherry commented from Spinel's new form.

"I'm so excited to meet you!" Spinel beamed to Steven.

"You're not mad...?" Steven asked out of confusion.

"Mad?" Spinel giggled. "Why would I be mad at my best friend?"

"Uh, Pearl, mind an explanation of what's going on?" Mo asked.

"This will be fun, Aren't you the lucky one?~" Pearl smiled to Steven as Spinel bounced around happily like something you would see out of a cartoon from the 1920's. "Her cut is perfect and she's pink as well, She'll bring you endless entertainment, Your new best friend, Spinel!~"

Everyone looked to each other, not sure what to make of that, but Steven seemed enraged.

"YOUUUU!" Steven glared, shaking Spinel violently. "What have you done to us?!"

"Boop! Now it's your turn." Spinel smiled as she giggled before booping him on the nose and soon stretched her arms around Steven before shaking him violently.

"Woooould youuuu cut that outttt?!" Steven soon cried out as Spinel stopped shaking him with her eyes rattling around cartoonishly dizzy. "...Please?"

"This is really crazy, isn't it, Atticus?" Cherry commented, coming up to her childhood best friend who looked very overwhelmed and confused from his surroundings. "We should probably get to the bottom of this mystery. Maybe turn you back to your normal age and size," she then looked to him as he didn't seem to answer her. "Atticus, you okay?" she then asked in concern.

"Yeah... But just one question..." Atticus said before turning to her like she was a complete stranger. "Who are you and how do you know my name?"

This caused Cherry to go wide-eyed along with Patch, Oddball, Jessica, Steven, and Greg.

'Luna's warning.' Cherry thought to herself.

"Atticus... That's Cherry..." Jessica told him.

"Who are you?" Atticus then asked.

"He doesn't even know you?" Greg asked. "But you're his sister!"

Jessica sighed softly. "Atticus was taken from us when he was a baby."

"He's been set back to when he was just a young boy." Titanium sighed.

"That's what I was afraid of." Cherry frowned as she failed to protect Atticus from what Princess Luna had warned her about.

"Hey, look!" Spinel pointed out to the others curiously. "There's more Gems! Let's ask 'em to play!"

"Wait a minute," Steven stopped her before asking, "You don't remember?"

"Remember what?" Spinel asked.


	4. Chapter 4

They were soon outside as they looked up at the giant injector.

"Ugh... It's like when Dr. Winokur comes by to give us our shots on the farm." Patch groaned from the sight of the injector.

"Wooow-wee! That thing sure is big!" Spinel gasped before looking to Steven. "You wanna climb it or somethin'?"

"Wait, wait, are you serious right now?" Steven asked. "What about that stuff you said about how I 'won't stand a chance against your injector'?"

"I said what, now?" Spinel replied, scratching her head out of confusion.

"She doesn't remember because her weapon set her back to before she became evil." Titanium told Steven.

Lion soon walked by, making everyone look over to him.

"How about you, Lion?" Steven soon asked the pink lion. "Can you make any sense of this?"

Lion simply growled in response while displaying a less-than-amused face.

"Aw, you're no help, either," Steven groaned, going to put Spinel's weapon away. "At least I can store this thing in your mane."

"Uh, Steven?" Titanium spoke up, but Steven found himself unable to do what he was going to do.

"I can't store things in lion's mane now? That's like the easiest thing I do!" Steven complained before picking up Spinel's weapon and put it in his coat pocket.

"What do we do?" Oddball pouted. "Steven has no friends to help him now."

"Except..." Steven said before looking to Little Homeworld in the distance and looked inspired before running that way. "Bismuth, Lapis, and Peridot. C'mon guys, let's go figure out how to fix this!"

Spinel then laughed as she went to follow along Steven, but no one else came with him.

"Really?" Cherry asked. "No one else?"

"Guys?" Steven called to his friends.

"My Um Greg, allow me." Pearl offered to Greg, summoning a parasol from her Gem, using it to shield a wary Greg from the sun.

Amethyst stood near them and soon shape-shifted into Greg, leaving a confused Pearl to constantly switch between holding the parasol over both.

"Ruby? Sapphire?" Steven called to the smaller Gems.

"She's not goin' anywhere with you!" Ruby glared protectively.

"I do see us following him to the countryside." Sapphire then said.

"Never mind!" Ruby quickly changed her mind then. "We're goin'!"

"Come on, Atticus," Cherry said, though her future best friend gasped and went to hide away from her since she was a stranger to him. "You can trust me... We're best friends."

"W-We are?" Atticus asked as he came out of hiding a little.

"Yes." Cherry smiled.

"But... You're an old lady!" Atticus said.

Cherry then anime fell from that with a grunt.

"You really should have expected that." Patch whispered to her.

"Um, yes, but you can be friends with someone that's your same age or even with an adult." Cherry told Atticus softly as she got up.

Atticus backed up as he felt uncomfortable around Cherry.

"Please... Listen to me..." Cherry begged. "You're my best friend... My brother... My everything."

Oddball looked surprised to see this side of Cherry.

'I've never seen this side of Cherry.' Jessica thought to herself.

"Wait! Don't leave me alone with these two!" Greg cried out, standing beside Pearl and Amethyst who then shape-shifted into another Pearl.

"Just keep an eye on them for now, we'll be back!" Steven told his father before running off.

Atticus soon came out of hiding before going over to Cherry, Patch, Oddball, and Jessica as he didn't want to be alone.

"I never thought I'd say this... Mostly because it makes me physically sick to my stomach... But I wish Drell were here." Cherry said.

"So he could help you with Atticus?" Patch asked.

"Yeah," Cherry replied. "Or maybe even Hilda and Zelda. Just someone. Maybe they could help me with Atticus's situation."

As they followed after Steven, Spinel, Ruby, and Sapphire and Titanium; Atticus couldn't help but look at the ocean.

"Atticus?" Jessica called.

Atticus continued to stare into the open water, almost looking entranced. Oddball came to bite on his pant leg to pull him over. As he looked at the ocean, some memories came back and which made him look away, telling Jessica one thing of which memories came back as he looked away from the ocean.

"Atticus... You okay...?" Jessica smiled hopefully to her little brother.

"C-Can we get away from the ocean? Please?" Atticus asked as some tears were coming out.

"Oh... Come here..." Jessica said, holding onto him. "Come here..."

Atticus sniffled, hugging Jessica as he looked very upset and scared.

"Shh... Shh... It's okay..." Jessica soothed, carrying him and comforting him as he looked scared of the water.

They began to get as far away from the ocean as they could.

They were soon at Little Homeworld and where they had informed Bismuth, Lapis, and Peridot everything that happened after the small reunion between Titanium and Bismuth.

"She rode in on THAT?!" Peridot asked, looking through binoculars as Bismuth walked off, smiling nervously to Ruby and Sapphire.

"Yeah," Steven replied. "She said my human half 'wouldn't stand a chance against her injector'."

"What does that mean?" Lapis asked.

"Why don't we just ask her?" Peridot suggested.

"First, we have to find her." Mo said.

Spinel's finger soon poked Steven's shoulders as she hid away.

"I think I found her." Oddball commented.

"Wha--... Where'd she...?" Steven looked around before yelping as Spinel popped up from behind him.

Spinel pops up from behind Steven, startling him.

"Surprise!" Spinel giggled.

"Here she is," Steven sighed. "My 'new best friend', Spinel..."

"As you can see, she's not dangerous at the moment." Jessica said.

"A pleasure to meet you all." Spinel smiled and bowed a bit.

"I thought you said she was just trying to kill you." Bismuth remarked.

"Like I said, she's not dangerous right now." Jessica replied.

"Wow, quick turnaround." Lapis commented.

"No kidding," Peridot replied. "It took me months to stop trying to kill Steven."

"I'd say it took me a day," Bismuth said. "Day and a half?"

"I'm still on the fence." Lapis added.

The three Gems all shared a laugh from that.

"You're all really choked up about this, aren't ya?" Cherry deadpanned.

"Anyway, Titanium says the reason she and the others can't remember any of us is because of Spinel's weapon; although he didn't tell us what it was called." Patch said.

"Alright, let's see this thing she hit you with." Peridot requested.

"Right." Steven nodded and soon took out the weapon who began to examine it in the least safe ways possible.

"Whoa..." Peridot said as she examined the weapon. "Was there like, a-a laser, or--"

Bismuth hurriedly snatched the object from Peridot's hands before she could activate it. "Be careful with that!" she then warned. "It's a Rejuvenator."

"A Rejuvenator..." Oddball repeated. "...What does that mean?"

"It's a weapon that was used on Gems who were out of line and were set back to how they started." Titanium explained.

"Let me guess; the Diamonds were the ones that used it?" Mo guessed.

"How'd you know that?" Bismuth asked Mo.

"We learned a lot about you Crystal Gems and your Homeworld in school," Mo replied. "I guess we should explain. We have Charm School in our school."

"What does that mean?" Titanium asked.

"It means we have secret classes unknown to mortal students to practice our magic and study it," Mo informed. "We cast magic spells, learn about important witches and warlocks, go on field trips to the Netherworld. It's pretty amazing. Our latest unit from school was that they taught us about you guys, and good timing too since Jessica invited us to come to her childhood home in Beach City."

"Yep." Patch nodded.

"Well... I have nothing to say to that, but I guess at least you know a bit more of what's going on." Bismuth said to them.

"Yep." Oddball nodded.

"Is this one of those dog things?" Peridot asked as she examined Oddball.

"Yes," Patch replied, coming beside the puppy. "And she's my niece."

"Hmm... Fascinating... My research didn't tell me that other life-forms could talk on this planet." Peridot said.

"We're different." Oddball replied.

"Not different, Oddball, just... Special," Patch smiled. "One of a kind."

"Yeah... One of a kind..." Oddball beamed from that.

Bismuth soon looked over to Ruby and Sapphire.

"What are you looking at?" Ruby glared as she saw Bismuth looking at them.

"Oh, my stars! I touched it! I could have lost all my character development!" Peridot panicked before looking curious at Steven. "Wait, how did you survive getting by that, Steven?"

"I... I think I didn't," Steven said to her. "My human half kept me from poofing, but my gem half; it took the hit. She sent me back, it's like I'm a kid again!" he then began to flip out. "I can barely control my powers! How do we reverse this...? Oh, no... do I need to get the Diamonds?!"

"Also, how did your companion get hit?" Peridot asked Cherry about Atticus.

"He's part Crystal Pony," Cherry replied. "I guess it counts for him."

"Fascinating," Peridot remarked. "I don't believe I've met a human with part crystal. What is 'pony' though?"

"It's kind of like a baby horse." Patch said.

"I have more to learn about this world, I see," Peridot replied. "You all seem interesting though."

"Oh. Thank you." Cherry said bashfully.

Bismuth soon handed the Rejuvenator back to Steven.

"You're the one with healing powers," Lapis soon said to Steven. "If anyone can fix this, it's you."

"I can't believe this; for the first time in years, everyone's in danger," Steven frowned as he put the Rejuvenator back in his coat pocket. "Everyone needs me and I'm useless. Bismuth, what do we do?"

"Oh, Steven." Jessica frowned in concern.

"I'm sorry, Steven," Bismuth sighed to the hybrid boy. "I don't know..."

Steven turned his gaze to Ruby and Sapphire before tearing up. "Garnet would know what to do..." he then said sadly. "Garnet always knows what to do..."

"If Atticus was back to his original self, then he'd be able to help..." Cherry frowned.

Both Steven and Cherry began to feel hopeless.

"Hey! Don't be sad..." Spinel beamed, beginning to dance around Steven, slowly taking on more maniacally happy expressions before coiling around Steven in celebration. "Your new best friend, your new best friend, your new best friend, YOUR NEW BEST FRIEND SPINEL IS HERE!"

"Not now, okay?" Cherry told Spinel emotionally.

Spinel soon began to laugh as she danced around Steven before doing a hand stance as she clamped her feet together.

"Cut it out!" Cherry snapped, startling Spinel.

Steven felt dejected and refused to acknowledge Spinel's attempts to cheer him up and began to sing to himself. "Here we are in the future, Here we are in the future and it's wrong, Just a second ago, we were singing this song, And now, they're gone, because of her, Happily ever after, there we were~"

Oddball frowned, feeling sad for Steven. Cherry sat in a corner, hugging her knees as she looked broken without Atticus with her in his helpful, strong, and supportive way.

"When has it ever been easy?~," Bismuth soon sang to help out Steven in his time of need. "Hasn't it always been hard to be us~"

Steven soon looked up to her as she walked up to him.

"When you go against the grain, There's always somebody around you can't trust~," Bismuth then continued. "That's why we've got to have each other, While we'll figure this out, we must!~"

Spinel looked around, not realizing Bismuth had been talking about her. 

Bismuth soon helped Steven onto his feet. "Because we are the Crystal Gems~," she then sang before grabbing a hold of Cherry, making her stand up too before she came beside Lapis and Peridot. "And we never give up, We never give up on our friends As long as one of us is standing to brandish the star~," she then gestured to Steven. "We'll find a way, To save the day, That's who we are!~"

Titanium nodded in agreement.

"Here we are in the future~" Steven soon sang.

"Here we are in the future and it's wrong!~" Steven and Cherry sang together.

"Look at them, they're not even singing along~" Steven sang, gesturing to Ruby and Sapphire.

"Atticus always sings along while I don't and sing a heartbreaking melody~," Cherry then sang about her best friend. "I want it to be just like the old days... With The Adventures of Atticus & Cherry, him and me~"

"If I could've just stopped right there, we'd be~," Steven sang then, looking out to the warp pad down below them. "Totally fine, Totally us, Totally me~"

Bismuth, Titanium, Lapis, and Peridot soon joined up with Steven.

"Even if it takes a thousand years to get them back, we will~," Bismuth sang as they soon went down an elevator and the others began to follow after them as Jessica held onto Atticus due to his small age and size. "They may not know who they are, but we do, Believe me, Steven, I've known them longer, I've seen them get through worse and come back stronger, That's why I believe in them, And I believe in you!~" she then beamed before going to the Homeworld Square and poured molten lava into a star-shaped mold to lift up Steven's spirits. "Because we are the Crystal Gems, And we never give up, No, we never give up on our friends~"

And where that seemed to work as Steven smiled.

"As long as one of is standing to brandish the star~" Bismuth sang.

"We'll find a way~" Peridot smiled to Steven.

"To save the day~" Lapis added.

"That's who we are!~" Bismuth concluded with a friendly wink.

"Alright, let's put our heads together; there's gotta be someway to get them to remember." Steven said.

"What if it's like a puzzle?" Spinel asked as she stretched herself over to them.

"Huh?" Titanium asked.

"If we give 'em all the pieces, eventually they'll get the picture!" Spinel explained.

"Spinel, that--" Cherry began before giving that some thought. "Actually makes sense..."

"Yeah! If every experience they lost is a-a piece of who they are, we just have to give them back all the pieces," Steven then added. "One experience at a time!"

"Are you serious?" Lapis asked.

"That could take forever!" Peridot added.

"Exactly," Steven nodded. "So let's get started!"

"Right." Titanium nodded back.

"Cherry, you and your friends help out too, and maybe we can restore Atticus for you." Steven then smiled to the perky goth.

"Uh..." Cherry blinked.

"Good!" Steven smiled. "Then let's get to work!"

"We'll find a way, To save the day, That's who we are!~" Steven, Bismuth, Peridot, and Lapis then sang as they went to work.

"Here we are in the future, here we are in the future and it's wrong~" Spinel sang.

The others glanced to her as that felt rather unnecessary right now.

"Whoa, Spinel, it's okay," Steven told her sheepishly. "We're done."

Cut to Sapphire, who was being guarded by Ruby, who was marching around her.

"Alright, Steven, what do you think about this?" Oddball asked the hybrid boy.

"So when Ruby and Sapphire first became Garnet, Ruby rushed in to save Sapphire from danger, and BAM! They fused," Steven soon said. "So maybe we've got to create some sort of dangerous situation."

"Titanium, can you bring out your weapon?" Jessica asked.

"You sure about that?" Titanium asked Jessica.

"Yeah, it might work out nicely." Jessica nodded.

"Well... All right..." Titanium then said before doing what was asked of him.

"Great, now go and look like you're going to attack Sapphire." Patch told him.

"Hmm... All right... Hopefully it's convincing enough." Titanium said.

"I think anything threatening Sapphire is enough to make Ruby's blood boil." Mo advised.

"Heh. You have no idea," Titanium said before going to charge to Sapphire with his weapon to look like a villain. "DIE!"

"Halt! I can not allow you to approach My Sapphire with that weapon!" Ruby told Titanium.

"A challenger, huh?" Titanium replied. "Well, I fear no challenges, and see you not as such."

Steven looked a bit nervous with how hostile Ruby could get sometimes.

"Wait, doesn't Sapphire see the future?" Oddball asked the others.

"Yeah, why?" Patch replied before thinking about it. "Ohh!"

"Permission to dispatch the large one, my Sapphire?" Ruby soon asked.

"No need," Sapphire replied. "I predict he won't be able to follow through despite his decent acting skills and large stature."

"Dang it." Titanium groaned from Sapphire's prediction.

Titanium soon went back to the others as he put his weapon away.

"It was a valiant effort." Jessica softly told him.

"Thanks." Titanium replied.

"My Sapphire, you were right!" Ruby was surprised. "What do you predict will happen next?"

"Well, the Spinel will try to pick up that device out of curiosity while the Titanium tries to stop her." Sapphire replied.

We soon saw just that happening as predicted.

"Hijinks will ensue." Sapphire then continued.

"Atticus, listen to me, we are friends," Cherry told the young boy. "We play video games... We talk to animals... We go on adventures... You're like my brother."

Atticus frowned as he wanted to believe Cherry, but he didn't remember meeting her until now.

Oddball was soon found in a pile of stuff and found what looked to be a giant pizza cutter and where she accidentally activated it. And thus started the hijinks.

"Wait, Oddball!" Steven cried out. "No, no, no, no!"

"I'll try to stop it!" Oddball said, pressing the button on the handle and she soon began shaking.

"Don't touch that thing!" Steven told the young Dalmatian.

"Whoaooa!" Oddball yelped, stumbling forward, attempting to hold it down. She then lost control of the "giant pizza cutter", then stumbled toward an unseen structure and crashed.

"Hey, we just built that!" Bismuth complained.

"Aw, great!" Cherry stamped her foot in frustration and annoyance.

"I'll get her!" Patch called out as he ran after his niece and the "giant pizza cutter".

"Uncle Patch, make it stop!" Oddball cried out. "I don't like this!"

"Don't worry, I'm coming!" Patch called out.

Oddball cried out as she went all over the place with the giant buzzsaw. Ruby then took that time to shield Sapphire.

"Whoa, here she comes!" Peridot then called out.

Bismuth grabbed Peridot while Lapis and Steven dive out of the way with Atticus, Cherry, Mo, and Jessica as Oddball sped through on the saw, slicing the dumpster in half.

"Poor Oddball." Jessica frowned in concern for her pet.

Patch soon finally jumped and got Oddball off the buzzsaw, leaving it to start going up sand building. Oddball soon landed on the ground, panting a bit.

"Oh, poor puppy..." Jessica cooed before she bent down and carried Oddball in her arms.

"My scaffolding!" Bismuth cried out in horror. "MY PRECIOUS SCAFFOLDING!"

"Wow!" Ruby gasped from Sapphire's predictions. "What happens next?"

"In just a moment, the scaffolding will start falling all around you." Sapphire replied.

"What?" Ruby asked until the prediction started to come true as she dodged all the falling pieces. "Wow, you're amazing."

"Hm," Sapphire blushed from that before she then continued. "Next, the Peridot will hold back some of the falling debris. Three large barrels will fall. The Bismuth will catch two of them and that bigger dog will help out."

Steven then turned, seeing Peridot hold back some of the debris with her powers.

"I got this, Biz!" Peridot called out.

"Nice work, Perido--" Bismuth said before looking up to see two barrels falling. "Oh, shucks!" she then caught two, but the third one rolled away. "Ah! Shoot! Oh, no!"

"I'll get it!" Patch said as he ran off.

"THE HEAVEN AND EARTH BEETLES ARE OUT FOR THEIR AFTERNOON CONSTITUTIONAL!" Bismuth then flipped out.

We are soon shown two bug-sized beings walking by as the third barrel was rolling towards them.

"The Lapis will rush in and save them at the last second." Sapphire then said.

"Oh! Will you please cut that out?!" Cherry groaned in annoyance.

Lapis then flew and dove down quickly, picking up the Heaven and Earth beetles with her hands just as the barrel was about to roll over them. "Whew. You guys okay?" she then asked.

Both of the Earth and Heaven Beetles then gave her a thumb's-up.

"Whew." Patch sighed.

"She can't help it, Cherry; Sapphire has the power to see the future." Jessica said.

"Um, is that buzzsaw going to keep cutting?" Atticus asked nervously.

"Yes, it will continue to cut," Sapphire told Atticus. "The anvil will fall. And R-Ruby will be shattered!"

The saw continued to cut and moved over to a hanging anvil, cutting into the handle and it began to fall.

"Look out, Ruby!" Cherry cried out.

The anvil was about to shatter Ruby only for Steven's shield to save her as it was above her. However, he began to struggle holding it and the shield began to crack.

"Huh?" Ruby muttered as she looked up.

"The curly-haired one's power is fading," Sapphire said before looking guilty. "Ruby, I'm sorry! I told you you wouldn't last the day!"

"Well, I'm glad fate allowed me to meet you." Ruby replied romantically.

The shield shattered and Ruby held out her hands, accepting her fate.

"No!" Cherry and Steven cried out.

Ruby as soon saved by Sapphire as she got her out of the way of the anvil. Everyone looked shocked, but also pleased to see that Sapphire helped out Ruby like that. The two Gems soon looked into each other's eyes and began to glow and soon fused into Garnet.

"Holy Shnikes, it worked." Cherry commented.

"It really worked." Mo smiled.

Garnet was soon reborn as she was two versions of herself, wearing Ruby and Sapphire's outfits walking together, mirroring each other. She then began to have her own song which was very great to listen to since she had a lovely singing voice. "Suddenly hot I'm-, Suddenly cool I'm-, Suddenly a genius I'm-, Suddenly a fool I'm-, Suddenly fact, but I feel-, Stranger than fiction I'm new, But I'm suddenly back, I'm a walking contradiction!~"

Oddball smiled as she seemed to like Garnet's song so far. Patch was happy that Oddball was happy.

"Doesn't this have a name?, La-da-da-da-da, Doesn't this have a name?, Doesn't this have a name?~" Garnet sang, meeting with Ruby and Sapphire as Mo looked to Atticus, thinking of when she first met him, but he obviously didn't remember her. "And isn't it, isn't it, isn't it love?, Isn't it, isn't it, isn't it love?, And isn't it, isn't it, isn't it love?, Isn't it, Isn't it, Isn't it love?~"

And so, due to the power of love, Ruby and Sapphire fused into Garnet.

"Garnet looks a bit different." Oddball said.

"Her head looks like cotton candy." Cherry commented.

"Tell me about it." Jessica agreed.

"Garnet!" Steven smiled, running over to Garnet only to fall over as she backed away from his hug attempt. "Garnet, you're back! Thank goodness it's you!"

"Steven, this is only one step of getting all her memories back." Titanium told him.

"She doesn't know you yet, Steven." Jessica added.

Steven began to look as crushed as Cherry felt when Atticus asked who she was. "Her memories aren't back," he then said as he realized. "I guess Fusion was only the first piece."

"Yep." Patch nodded.

Everyone turned as they heard the sound of Greg's van beeping. It made its way into Little Homeworld.

Pearl appeared from the driver's seat, holding a small red carpet and step-stool, setting them down at the back doors. She summoned a small trumpet and played a small fanfare. "Attention, everyone. Um Greg Universe has arrived." she announced with a bow as she opened the doors and Greg rushed out.

"Uncle Greg, what's wrong?" Jessica asked.

"Guys! Oh! Have you seen Amethyst?" Greg asked.

"What?" Steven replied to his father. "I told you to watch her."

"She must have wandered off while I was wrestling my laundry out of Pearl's hands." Greg replied.

"Uh, speaking of Pearl..." Oddball said as she pointed to what Pearl was doing.

Greg and Steven turned, hearing squeaking noises. Pearl was seen wiping the hubcaps of the van.

"Pearl! You don't have to do that!" Greg called out before running over. "I own a car wash!"

"I need to go find Amethyst," Steven said to Bismuth before gesturing to Garnet. "Can you watch her?"

"Yeah, sure," Bismuth smirked as she watched Garnet looking at herself and exploring her environment. "But it looks like she's doing a pretty good job watching herself."

"Thanks," Steven replied before looking to the remaining others. "Come on, guys."

"Right." Titanium said.

They soon began to run off only for Steven to be stopped by Spinel.

"Don't forget your best friend, Spinel!" Spinel beamed to him.

"Oh, right," Steven replied. "Spinel, you stay here with the others, and we'll be right back." he then let go of her hand which seemed to worry Cherry about that.

Spinel suddenly paused before looking angry. "No!"

Steven gasped from her angry form and grinned sheepishly. "O-Okay. Let's go together?"

"Yay!" Spinel then smiled and laughed from that.

"It's best that we keep her happy for the time being." Titanium told Steven.

"I guess I'll keep that in mind." Steven replied.

"Please do." Cherry whispered as she felt nervous from Spinel.

"We better start searching." Mo said.

They soon went to keep going with Spinel in tow.


	5. Chapter 5

They rode on Lion and ended up downtown through a magic portal they were lucky enough to conjure up.

"No Amethyst here." Cherry said as she looked around.

"Let's keep looking." Jessica said.

They soon came into Beach City Funland.

"Amethyst!" Steven called out.

The others frowned before going on a roller-coaster to check.

"Where could she be?" Jessica asked.

"Could she be on Homeworld?" Cherry suggested.

"I don't think she could get there on her own from Earth." Jessica shook her head.

They then checked in Big Donut.

"Amethyst!" Steven called out.

"You remind me of my old friend, Sour Cream." Jessica commented to a boy who was sitting on the floor, eating a donut.

"We've searched everywhere." Mo said.

"Wait," Steven said, coming up to the counter. "Can I get something to go?"

They soon strolled through the neighborhood as Steven held out a donut.

"Amethyst! I've got tasty donuts!" Steven called out, holding out a donut. "Come and get 'em! Worth a try. Where can she be?"

"Not sure." Oddball shrugged.

"I know this neighborhood..." Jessica said to herself.

"You do?" Steven asked.

"Vidalia lives here!" Jessica smiled from familiar excitement.

"Let's see if she has seen Amethyst." Patch said.

"Yeah, Amethyst used to come here all the time." Steven memorized.

They soon came into the garage which now looked like an art studio which seemed to have several paintings of Amethyst.

"Maybe she's in here." Oddball said.

They explored a bit.

"That one looks like a Picasso." Cherry pointed one painting out.

The painting seemed to blink at her.

"Whoa!" Cherry gasped slightly as that caught her off-guard.

"Looks like we found her." Jessica said.

Amethyst was soon shown, shape-shifting back into her normal form.

"Amethyst, thank goodness you're okay." Steven sighed in relief.

"Thank goodness you're okay." Amethyst repeated.

Steven sighed, but smiled to her still. "I'm very not okay, but I've got a plan," he then said. "I'm gonna get us all back piece by piece. I just have to figure out your pieces. These paintings. Do you remember being painted?"

"Being painted?" Amethyst blinked, tilting her head.

"Do you remember yours and Steven's handshake?" Mo asked.

"Our handshake?" Amethyst asked, morphing into Steven.

"Singing and dancing, that's gotta be a piece," Steven suggested, turning on a light. "Do you remember singing and dancing with me?"

Amethyst merely looked curious.

"In the light of the day, In the dark of the night, When you're rarin' to go~," Steven began to sing to Amethyst before she changed back to her normal self, dancing a bit before holding his hand out to her. "When you're tired from the fight, When you're losing your mind, Let me give you a thought, I'm gonna be right by your side no matter what!~"

Amethyst soon accepted his hand and the two of them soon walked out of garage.

Steven and Amethyst soon began to sing together back and forth as the others followed out of the garage as Spinel smiled cutely and innocently from their interactions. "In the dark of the night, (In the dark of the night,) In the light of the day, (In the light of the day,) When you're risin' to shine, (When you're risin' to shine,) When you're hittin' the hay, (When you're hittin' the hay,) I'll be hangin' around, (I'll be hangin' around,) If you like it or not, (If you like it or not,) I'm gonna be right by your side no matter what! (Right by your side no matter what!)~"

"How am I gonna get Atticus to remember me though if Steven's gonna do that with the Crystal Gems?" Cherry sulked. Her answer soon came to her, Patch, Oddball, and Jessica as Atticus was humming Athena's lullaby while Steven and Amethyst sang and dance.

"Cherry, do you know that song?" Jessica asked.

"Isn't that what Queen Athena sang to her daughters?" Cherry guessed since she wasn't around for that.

"Yes." Jessica smiled.

"But how did he remember that song?" Patch asked.

"He must have remembered it after he saw the ocean." Jessica said.

That would be where they would have to go after get Amethyst to remember. Jessica and Cherry looked to each other as that seemed to give them an idea.

They soon went to the Beach Citywalk Fries and ordered fry bits, and Amethyst soon copied Steven eating.

"I thought Gems didn't eat?" Cherry commented.

"Amethyst does." Jessica said knowingly.

And after eating a french fry, Amethyst liked the taste. They then went to the Funland arcade and played skeeball, but they sat above the machine, throwing the ball into the slot, winning rows of tickets much to Spinel's awe. However, Mr. Smiley caught them and they run away.

"Sorry!" Jessica called out on the way out.

"Cheaters never prosper!" Cherry added.

"We regret nothing!" Atticus added.

They soon ran out as Amethyst ran into Ronaldo and formed into him. Ronaldo then took out his phone to take a picture, but the others pulled Amethyst away before he could, much to his dismay.

They soon rode away in a train together as Amethyst looked happy now.

"In the dark of the night, In the light of the day, When you're risin' to shine, When you're hittin' the hay~" Amethyst sang before jumping in the hay.

Steven soon jumped in next. "Just remember this song~" he then sang to the Gem.

"How's it go, I forgot?" Amethyst asked before they both laughed.

"I'm gonna be right by your side no matter what! (Right by your side no matter what!)~" Steven and Amethyst sang together.

Cherry walked up to the Kindergarten in shock as she couldn't believe she was actually seeing this up close.

"Amazing, isn't it?" Mo commented as she felt the same way.

"It sure is." Atticus said as he stood close to Jessica.

Jessica smiled to him as she took his hand and walked inside with him.

"Through whoever you've been, (Through whoever you've been,), Through whoever you'll be, (Through whoever you'll be,), Through whatever you'll lose, (Through whatever you'll lose,)~," Steven and Amethyst sang together as they explored the Kindergarten a bit to help her remember before they then rode away on a train after they were done as Cherry took pictures on her phone. "You will always have me, (You will always have me,), At the end of your road, (At the end of your road,), I'll be holding you taut, (I'll be holding you taut,), I'm gonna be right by your side no matter what. (Right by your side no matter what.), Be right by your side, (Be right by your side,), Be right by your side, (Be right by your side,), Be right by your side no matter what. (Be right by your side no matter what.~)"

They were soon at a hillside showing the ocean.

"Pew." Amethyst said to Steven as she had her right hand as if it was the start of their handshake.

"Pew, pew?" Steven replied, doing the same.

"One-two-three, hup!" The two then did together as Amethyst seemed to remember him now.

"Amethyst!" Steven beamed, hugging her instantly.

"Whoa," Amethyst blinked before she began to glow and reform and returned back to her old self, then fell. "Ohh, what happened?" she then asked.

"Amethyst, it worked, you're back!" Steven beamed as he gave her a big hug.

Titanium soon joined in the hug and the others before Spinel joined in and where Amethyst soon noticed Spinel and Titanium were in the hug.

"You!" Amethyst glared as she jumped back. "W-W-What are you doing here?!"

"Uh, you talking to me or her?" Titanium asked nervously.

"Mostly her." Amethyst growled through her teeth.

"Yep, she's got all her memories back." Cherry said.

"S-So, l-let me explain..." Steven spoke up to Amethyst.

"Get away from him, you monster!" Amethyst glared, grabbing Steven and pulling him over using her whip. "Huh?" she then blinked to see that Spinel had disappeared.

"A monster?" Spinel asked, suddenly behind them before chuckling as she took a look in confusion. "Where is it? No, I don't see it."

"Gah!" Amethyst gasped before jumping back to her. "You're it."

"Oh!" Spinel said before jumping over Amethyst and Steven, touching Amethyst's head. "Ready or not! Here I come! Boop!" she then giggled as she ran in the distance before seeing them not coming after her. "Oh, I forgot to say, 'you're it'!" she then stretched her hand over to touch Amethyst's shoulder. "Okay, tag, you're it!"

"She doesn't remember a thing," Titanium explained. "And it's because of her Rejuvenator."

Amethyst soon saw Jessica and the others leading Atticus to the ocean.

"Mm, you guys not know how to play tag?" Spinel asked, coming behind Steven and Amethyst.

Atticus yelped and tried to back up away from the water.

"Atticus, I promise the water won't bite you..." Cherry said, a bit annoyed and exasperated.

Atticus gulped before seeing Jessica hold his hand.

"Atticus, it's going to be okay," Jessica smiled to her little brother. "It's going to be alright."

"What if I drown?" Atticus pouted.

"You won't drown," Jessica smiled. "I'm your big sister and that means I'll be right here with you."

"R-Right." Atticus nodded.

They soon began to walk into the water and where what happened next surprised Atticus, Steven, and Amethyst. Jessica smiled, coming out with Atticus to the surface a bit. Atticus gasped, coming beside her before they soon saw that they had tail-fins.

"They're mermaids?!" Steven gasped.

"Well, Jessica is a mermaid, Atticus would be called a merman." Cherry stated bluntly.

"And I'm a merpup." Patch smiled.

"Well, Atticus... What do you think?" Jessica soon asked her brother.

Atticus looked emotional before he began to swim around and enjoy the water. "Under the bright blue endless sky~" he soon began to sing. He soon saw some instruments underwater and where soon Jessica and the others followed after she used her magic to make it possible for Steven breathe underwater.

"Jessica, you have magic too?" Cherry asked in surprise. "I never knew about that."

"I rarely use my magic." Jessica smiled.

They soon caught up with Atticus as his tail fin had strummed a unique looking guitar. Mo gave a hopeful smile to Atticus as he swam about the musical instruments.

"Wait, I remember that..." Atticus said as he began to play before seeing a saxophone and some drums, playing with them as it seemed to make him look cheerful as a kid at Christmas. "How I know that song, I remember sitting in the moonlight and that feeling, What's that feeling?~"

Jessica smiled happily for her brother.

"I remember, yes, How I know that song, though it's been so long I remember happiness without a floor or ceiling, What's that feeling? I remember~" Atticus sang with a smile. "La la la la la, La la la la la, La la la la la~"

Jessica and the others soon went to join in. Cherry chuckled a bit from Atticus's singing.

"Oh! I remember you, and how we were~," Atticus soon sang to Cherry, taking her hands before hugging her like a friend would to another. "I remember wanting with the evening, would be bringing, I remember singing under the bright blue endless sky, Waves try to measure the days that we treasure, And I, I remember... I remember music~"

Cherry gave a bit of an emotional smile.

"And I'm never going back to before our friendship before the future wrote~," Atticus continued. "I will sing in every tempo, every last chromatic note, For I, I remember us, I remember music, And I remember LOVE~," he then looked to Mo before he seemed to glow again. "Love~"

Soon, all of his memories all the good and bad times soon came back to him and soon after glowing for a little while, he was soon back to his big, strong self.

"Atticus." Cherry said.

Atticus looked over.

"Something's wrong." Cherry said.

"What?" Atticus asked.

"It's your head, it's--" Cherry began.

"Yeah, yeah, so big, very funny." Atticus rolled his eyes.

"Just checking." Cherry smirked.

Patch soon swam up to Atticus and began to lick his owner. Atticus laughed and hugged Patch since he was back to normal. Cherry soon felt a vibrating in her pocket, then took out Atticus's necklace from Magic School and soon put it on around his neck.

"Ah... That's a pretty garnet." Atticus smiled, checking out the gemstone that was his birthstone.

They soon got back to the surface and where they soon saw something going on where the injector was. When they came that way, they saw a group of people in town all gathered around in amazement of Spinel's machine.

"Steven, what is going on here?" A tiny old lady asked the hybrid boy.

"I'm not sure, but I'll find out," Steven replied. "Let's open up the shelters, we might need to evacuate."

"We better get over to Bismuth, Lapis, and Peridot." Mo said.

"If they haven't been shattered." Cherry shrugged sheepishly.

The group soon ran up the hill where the plant life was slowly dying and it spread.

"Lapis, Bismuth, Peridot!" Steven gasped, a bit out of breath.

"What's the damage?" Amethyst soon asked.

"Amethyst, get away from me," Peridot groaned to the Purple Gem. "I can't stand to see you all vacant and bereft of personality."

"You want that with dip?" Amethyst asked, unamused.

"She got her memories back." Titanium said.

"Oh! Well, you're just in time for the end of the world!" Peridot smiled nervously. "This is no ordinary injector. Whatever its leaking into the ground is toxic."

Bismuth then came over with a soil sample and Peridot bubbled it.

"Let's get a scan going and see what we're dealing with," Peridot then said, placing the sample into a microwave, pressed the popcorn button, then a paper print out. "Just as I thought," she then said, holding up a tablet. "Bio-poison. Pure and uncut. As of this moment, the ampule has drained 15.4% of its contents, meaning the poison is releasing at a destruction rate of five cubic meters per hour, giving us... Hmm... 41 hours until the destruction of all organic life on Earth."

"All organic life?" Mo's face paled.

"Yeah, like all the animals, the plants, the insects," Peridot replied. "You know. People."

"This is what Spinel meant." Titanium said as he and the others now meant what Spinel told Steven.

"Oh, no..." Steven added in realization. "'Your human half won't stand a chance against my Injector'," he thn quoted before panicking for his home of Beach City. "Sh-She brought this thing to kill me, and n-now it's gonna kill everything else on Earth too? I've got to do something!" he then ran towards the Injector.

"No, Steven wait!" Bismuth cried out.

"Steven! Stop!" Peridot added.

Atticus and Titanium were about to fly off and help Steven get the Injector out of the ground so then its toxic wouldn't spread anymore. Steven grunted a bit as his gem flickered on and off like a faulty light-switch.

"Careful, Steven, this stuff could hurt you." Titanium warned the hybrid boy.

"You gotta stop Steven or else it'll get worse for the organic life." Lapis told Atticus and Titanium.

"I'll get him." Atticus volunteered.

"You be careful too." Titanium advised Atticus.

"Trust me, I'll be alright." Atticus smiled.

Jessica took some deep breaths in and out as seeing Atticus do stuff like this always worried her, especially after their separation from when he was only a baby. Atticus soon moved the Injector with Steven, though some toxic began to leak out.

"Did you three try and move the injector out?" Patch asked Bismuth, Lapis, and Peridot out of curiosity.

"You think we didn't try that?" Lapis replied.

"Did it make it worse?" Mo asked out of fear.

"It wasn't as easy as we thought it would be, especially with Peridot's metal powers." Lapis replied.

"Whoa." Patch said.

"Disturbing the injector accelerates the poison's rate of release," Peridot said, checking her tablet. "Also, it might explode. We have to find a way to move it, without touching it before it's too late."

"But Spinel activated it, so she must be able to deactivate it, but she doesn't even remember what it is, let alone how to control it." Cherry remarked.

"Then you gotta change her back." Bismuth replied.

"How do we do that? The only way is if we take her to some place that's familiar to her." Atticus said.

"Besides, won't she kill you guys if she turns back into normal?!" Cherry asked.

"Steven's going to die anyway if you guys don't help get her to deactivate that thing." Peridot replied.

"She's right, Steven," Amethyst agreed. "You got me back. Whatever you did for me, just do it for her."

"That's different, I know you," Steven said to her. "I don't know anything about Spinel. None of us had even heard of her before. Except... Pearl," he then said in realization. "Pearl knew her."

"Getting Pearl back might be a challenge." Titanium said.

"I guess the Crystal Gems are like your sisters with how well you know them like this." Cherry commented.

"I know that Pearl, Rose, and Garnet were like aunts to me like Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather to Princess Aurora/Briar Rose." Jessica smiled nostalgically, unable to help that.

"Focus!" Cherry told her best friend's older sister.

"Sorry." Jessica smiled sheepishly.

"So then let's go find Pearl." Atticus said.

They soon came over to a storage unit which belonged to Greg as it was now time to talk with Pearl.


	6. Chapter 6

"I'm afraid I can't help," Pearl said to the others. "I'm currently in the service of my Um Greg Universe, preparing for tonight's concert, showcasing a promising ensemble in the 'rockinroll' genre."

Amethyst snickered a bit with how Pearl was acting now.

"She's only acting like this because this is how every Pearl acts before they start experiencing other emotions." Titanium told Amethyst.

Amethyst kept on snickering.

"Cut that out!" Titanium scolded.

"I'm sorry, it's just so funny." Amethyst smirked.

"You're evacuating people to the warehouse?" Greg asked as he came out while on the phone. "I'll... I'll cancel the rock show. No? You're right. Sadie Killer always draws a crowd. You got it, Mayor. I'll drop the cover charge and heck, 30% off merch." he then hung up.

"Dad." Steven said.

"Steven, you found Amethyst!" Greg then smiled.

"Who is Amethyst?" Amethyst then asked like a robot.

Jessica couldn't help but snicker.

"Oh, no," Greg panicked. "She's even worse."

"Nah, I'm just goofin'." Amethyst smirked.

"Too soon, Amethyst!" Greg said in both relief and exasperation.

They soon heard a noise going on in the storage unit.

"Was that Garnet?" Oddball guessed.

Inside, Spinel was shown to be standing over the fallen Garnet.

"Garnet, you okay?" Greg asked the Fusion Gem.

"Did you want the red cable or the blue cable?" Garnet asked him.

"It doesn't matter!" Greg replied. "They're the same!"

Pearl was shown to be storing a guitar into her gem.

"Pearl, what are you dong?" Greg then flipped out at her. "We need those for the show!"

"Forget the stupid show!" Cherry told him.

Greg flinched a bit from that.

"Cherry's right, even if she wasn't exactly nice about it," Steven had to agree. "We have to stop Spinel's injector, or everyone on Earth is gonna die!" he then explained to his father. "To stop it, we need Spinel back, and to do that, we need Pearl back, and to do that, we need her missing pieces. Pearl and Mom rebelled together, so she's got to rebel with you. We've got to stage some big, dramatic event, something to jog her memory, like... Like..."

"Like a rock show!" Amethyst suggested.

"Like a rock show?" Mo repeated out of confusion.

"Yes!" Steven and Amethyst replied.

"So Sadie's a rockstar now." Jessica remarked.

"Yep." Greg nodded.

"Wow, a lot sure has happened." Jessica said.

"Welcome home, Jess." Greg smiled to her.

"It's good to be back for a little while." Jessica smiled back.

"Well, hopefully this brings back Pearl's memories, though I'm not sure how." Oddball commented.

"I'm not sure either." Patch said.

Cut to a shot of a poster of Sadie's show outside the warehouse. The tiny old woman from before soon placed her hand a sticker on it, saying "No cover charge."

"Right this way, citizens," The tiny old lady said, looking to the line. "Ticket holder or evacuee?"

"Nanefua..." Jessica sighed slightly.

"You know her?" Atticus asked.

"Yep," Jessica replied. "Kiki's grandmother, or as she says it, 'Gunga'."

"I have a close friend named Kiki." Cherry remarked.

"That's interesting." Jessica said.

"So, you know a Kiki?" Cherry asked.

"Yeah," Jessica smiled. "Kiki... Sour Cream... Buck Dewey... They were a bit younger than I was when I lived here, but they were pretty cool."

"Whoa... You know the cool kids?" Steven asked. "You have a crazy life, Jessica!"

"I sure do," Jessica nodded. "But I think my little brother and his friends have a crazier life."

Atticus beamed sheepishly from that. They soon went to join in on the concert. Cherry soon checked her phone in annoyance to see a message from Drell.

"What's he want this time?" Patch asked.

"He volunteered us to go along on a trip to outer-space on a ship called The Sly Star One sometime after school." Cherry said.

"That would make it my third time going into space." Patch said.

"Uh...?" Cherry blinked at him. "Okay, I know about that time with Tom and Jerry...?"

"I went to space with the Air Buddies too," Patch replied. "We met Spudnick who was a Bull Terrier and a ferret named Gravity."

"You have some dog's life, Spot." Cherry then said.

"Don't forget when you got to meet The Dog Stars." Atticus reminded his Dalmatian.

"Ah, right," Patch beamed. "That was so cool! It felt like a dream!"

"Maybe it was~..." Cherry said ominously just to mess with him. "Maybe our whole lives are dreams and none of this is even happening right now," She soon saw some unimpressed looks. "Come on, guys, you could at least humor me..." she then said.

Oddball hopped up and down as the show was starting before Jessica came to help her dog up to see the show.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, Thank you for gracing me with your presence!~," Sadie began to sing. "Good afternoon, sir, What can I do, sir?, Just say the word, sir~"

"Sour Cream... Kiki... Buck Dewey... They've all grown up..." Jessica said to herself in amazement with Sadie's bandmates.

"So you sure this will work?" Mo asked Steven.

"It has to," Steven replied. "I don't know what else to do."

"Anything for you, sir, Your friends all say, sir~," Sadie continued to sing. "You don't deserve her, I disagree, sir, I live to serve, sir~"

Everyone began to dance to the song; well, except for Pearl as she was only paying attention to Greg.

"It's not working..." Cherry said in a desperate voice.

"I-It's not enough." Steven soon said to Amethyst.

"Maybe we need to hit her where it hurts." Amethyst suggested.

"What?" Steven asked.

"You know, her original boss?" Amethyst prompted. "The love of her life? The reason she rebelled in the first place."

"Your mother, she's gotta remember her." Jessica told Steven.

"Yeah, Mom... But..." Steven pondered before looking to his father.

"If that's what it takes." Greg shrugged.

Steven gave Amethyst the nod and she took the microphone, shape-shifting into Rose much to the audience's surprise. Cherry's eyes glowed a bit as she always admired Rose Quartz as a person through her and her friends' studies on the Crystal Gems back in school.

"I want to be, Disobedient~," Amethyst soon sang as Rose. "I want to be, Disobedient, Disobedient, disobedient, Disobedient~" She soon turned Pearl's head towards her so she was look at her seeing if Pearl recognized her, only for Pearl's eyes to look back at Greg, showing that it didn't work.

"That looks so creepy." Cherry commented from Pearl's blank gaze at Greg.

The song soon ended and the crowd cheered, though Amethyst looked disappointed that Pearl didn't snap out of it.

"Why didn't it work?" Mo asked. "What piece are we missing?"

Titanium began to think back to before the rebellion and soon remembered. Greg weakly clapped.

"Don't worry!" Pearl smiled, rapidly clapping her hands together. "I can clap for you!"

"Ah!" Greg groaned. "What will make you stop serving me?"

"As long as you exist, I will serve you!" Pearl smiled.

"Okay, I have an idea." Cherry said, bringing out a spear from her own magic.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Atticus said, stopping her.

"Cherry! What the WHAT?!" Mo flipped out.

"Sorry?" Cherry grinned sheepishly.

"There are some lines you don't cross!" Mo scolded her. "Goodness gracious!"

"Hey, it's not like I was actually gonna KILL him." Cherry replied.

And that's when Steven and the others realized what they were missing.

"Dad! I've got an idea!" Steven told Greg before whispering his idea to him.

"Are you sure?" Greg then asked. "Aren't your powers messed up?"

"I can at least try!" Steven replied.

"But... What about me?" Greg asked. "I've never--"

"C'mon, Dad, let's duet." Steven urged his father.

"Was that a pun?" Cherry deadpanned.

Steven and Greg were both soon seen on stage.

"C'mon, powers, work with me here..." Steven sighed to himself, taking a guitar.

Greg soon took a guitar of his own. The two nodded at each other before beginning to play. As the stage effects flare to life, the two approached each other and stand back-to-back, shredding on their guitars and looking at each other. Jessica crossed her fingers, hoping that Steven's idea would work. A brief glow soon started to come out.

"No way." Cherry and Atticus whispered as it looked like the father and son were about to Fuse together.

A huge cloud of smoke soon shot out as the crowd cheered.

"Um Greg?!" Pearl cried out.

"Steven?!" Spinel added in concern.

As the smoke cleared, an unfamiliar, four-armed being, bearing a long mane of hair, a wild pompadour, and a double-necked guitar emerges from the mist. Cherry, Mo, and Jessica soon fell over from that.

"It's a big 'ol universe, out there~," The new Fusion sang before tossing out Steven's pink jacket out to Garnet. "And when you're gettin' crushed under the weight of them stars, Sometimes, you need that special someone, to remind you that there's so much more~"

"Wha...?" Pearl asked, looking dazed.

Buck was swept off the stage from the guitar playing as the new Fusion began to sing while playing guitar.

"Nothing's holding you back now~," The Fusion smiled sultry while looking right to Pearl. "No one can push you around, What do you wanna do?, You're the master of you, And isn't the thought enough to lift you off of the ground?~"

Pearl looked around until her foot was tapping and she suddenly felt struck and began to float until she was pulled onto the stage and was thrown in the air beside the moon in the sky. "Nothing is holding me back now~," she then sang herself. "No one can push me around, What do I wanna be?, I'm the master of me, And isn't the thought enough to lift me off of the ground?~"

Soon enough, Amethyst joined her and the new fusion before the three of them were in the air. The crowd grew louder and more excited from the show.

"We could be independent together~," Steven and Greg's Fusion sang. "Independent together, we can fly, Independent together, Independent together, Independent together, you and I~"

"It's working!" Oddball beamed. "...I hope."

And where Oddball was right as Pearl soon glowed as all her memories came back before she returned to the form that she was in before the Rejuvenator had hit her. Jessica beamed as she was glad to see that Pearl was now finally restored back to normal. Amethyst and Pearl soon seemed to dance together before falling flat as they glowed which also made Cherry's birthstone necklace glowed as they seemed linked together somehow.

"High above an endless sea~," The new Fusion continued to sing. "No one brought us here but me, Every step and every choice, It's my fault, it's my thought, it's my words, it's my voice~"

"Opal." Jessica smiled.

"Well, that explains why this is happening." Cherry said, looking to her birthstone necklace who glowed from Pearl and Amethyst fusing together.

"Independent together~," Opal sang before she brought out a guitar to play with Steven/Greg. "Independent together, if we try~"

Lion soon got Garnet on his back before they flew off with the two fusions, Titanium, Jessica, and the adventure group. Spinel watched curiously.

"Independent together, Independent together, Independent together, you and I~," Opal and Steven/Greg soon sang together before flying off. "Independent together, Independent together, we can fly~"

Spinel began to look sad that they were suddenly gone together without her.

"Independent together, Independent together~," Opal and Steven/Greg sang together, going through the sky with Garnet on Lion's back as Jessica, Titanium, and the adventure group followed after. "Independent together, you and I, Independent together, you and I~"

The group's birthstone necklaces glowed as they flew off together which seemed to be important to remember for later. Jessica soon noticed Steven/Greg's gem began to start glow a little less. Steven/Greg began to fall, but luckily, was caught by Opal before she lifted him up and he looked out to the injector as the song soon ended. Before landing on the floor, Steven and Greg soon split back into two again.

"Nicely done, Steg," Cherry said. "Or maybe it's Greven?"

The crowd began to cheer as they enjoyed the performance.

"We did it!" Greg beamed before looking in concern to his son. "Steven...?"

Collapsed on the ground, an exhausted Steven watched as Spinel ran away in tears, feeling rejected. Opal descended from the sky, defusing back into Pearl and Amethyst.

"Yeesh..." Cherry flinched from how Steven looked right now.

"Steven, are you alright?" Jessica frowned.

Steven looked around before seeing Spinel and he grunted a bit weakly. "Don't... Worry about me!" he then uttered out, getting up to his feet. "It's Spinel... We need her to remember how to stop her injector!" he then suddenly collapsed into his father's arms. "Pearl, what do you know about her?" he then asked.

"Spinel? She was Pink Diamond's little playmate," Pearl replied. "They used to spend ages together in Pink's garden--"

"Garden?" Steven and the adventure group asked, Cherry and Atticus a bit knowingly.

"That's where they used to play." Pearl replied.

"So what's her problem with us?!" Amethyst asked.

"I don't know, I haven't seen her in 6,000 years!" Pearl shrugged. "Something must have happened to her since then!"

"It's because Steven's mother left her standing in their garden for 6,000 years!" Cherry told them.

"You saw that too?" Atticus asked Cherry.

"Uh, yeah," Cherry replied bashfully. "Luna asked me to check on your dream which was a vision of course."

Garnet and Lion descended back from the sky.

"Steven, I think you should stay put," Cherry told the hybrid boy. "I think fusing with your dad took a lot out of you."

"No, I have to find Spinel and get her to remember." Steven said.

"Whoa, kiddo, are you sure you don't need a break?" Greg asked in concern.

"I think that glasses girl is right." Amethyst then said.

"I gotta do what I can with the little I have left," Steven said as he grabbed his jacket from Garnet and hopped on Lion's back before riding off. "I'm going after Spinel."

"We're going with you." The adventure group and Titanium said.

"Well... All right... Let's go then!" Steven said, going off on Lion's back.

Titanium and the group soon began to go along with Steven, though Greg felt worried about that.

Atticus heard his Spell Phone ringing and soon answered it. "Hello?"

"I should've let someone come with you for the big battle in the end, this is very important for you all to know." Drell's voice soon said rather urgently.

"Let me guess; Spinel's acting this way because Pink Diamond left her in their garden and never came back?" Atticus asked, already knowing the answer.

"Ah... You got that far, huh?" Drell asked. "You kids keep slipping between my fingers."

"Anyways, we're on our way to get her to remember how to stop her injector." Atticus told him.

"All right, I'll talk to you later then." Drell said before hanging up.

Atticus hung up himself and kept going with the others. "Sorry about that little delay." he then said on the way back.

"It's okay, we just have to catch up with Spinel." Jessica said.

"That shouldn't be too hard." Atticus said with strong determination.

"Oh, Steven, some stragglers are missing from the shelters!" Nanefua said to the hybrid boy riding on the pink lion.

"Did you see a pink Gem run by?" Steven asked the tiny old lady.

Nanefua pointed in the direction of the Beach House.

"Thanks." Steven said before riding off to the beach house with Lion.

"We gotta keep up..." Oddball said. "But how?"

"I might have a ride for us..." Cherry said with her eyes darting around a bit.

"Ooh." Oddball smiled.

"Cherry?" Jessica asked. "You have a ride for us?"

"Let's just say it's another big wildcat who's friendlier than he seems." Cherry said, tapping her knuckles together nervously.

"Are you referring to Kimba?" Mo asked.

"Erm... Yes..." Cherry said, a bit bashfully.

Kimba soon appeared, ready to give them a ride.

"Everyone who doesn't know, this is Kimba," Cherry said. "Kimba, can you follow that pink lion?"

"Of course I can," Kimba said before lowering down to the ground. "Hop on."

Cherry nodded and soon climbed onto his back first. Mo, Patch, and Jessica then climbed on next. Once they were all on, Kimba stood up on all fours and soon began to run after Lion.


	7. Chapter 7

We are soon shown the beach house as Steven and Lion made it over, though Steven seemed to be in pain.

"Just this morning, everything was perfect," Steven pouted painfully. "Why did everything have to change? I want my happily ever after back."

They soon saw a part of the temple having a glowing light.

"That might be her," Steven guessed before looking to Lion. "Go find Connie. We need all hands on deck."

Roaring a portal into existence, Lion rushed through, leaving Steven alone to confront Spinel inside the house. After walking up the stairs, he briefly peered inside before walking in to console the depressed Gem.

"Wait up, Steven." Cherry's voice said as she soon came by with Kimba, Jessica, Mo, Patch, Oddball, and Atticus.

Once they were close enough, they walked in as Kimba went back in Cherry's imagination.

"Whoa... How'd you do that?" Steven asked Cherry.

"...Psychics." Cherry replied.

Steven glanced at her, but ignored it for now. "It's time to confront Spinel." he then said.

"And we're right behind ya." Atticus replied.

"That's right." Titanium nodded.

"Okay, let's go then," Steven said before going on ahead. "Spinel? What's wrong?" he then asked.

Spinel turned to face the others with a sob. "I just started getting these feelings flooding back to me." she said while crying.

"That's... That's good, we need you to remember," Steven replied. "If you don't, something really bad will happen to me and my home. Please, think! Do you remember the garden?"

"The garden?" Spinel asked before she smiled with tears still in her eyes.

"Is anything coming back to you?" Cherry asked, trying to sound friendly.

Remembering her past, Spinel briefly smiled, looking back on her happy memories... Before degrading into a destroyed frown. In anguish, Spinel slammed her fists into the warp pad, activating it. "No!"

"Whoa! Hey! Hello!" Cherry cried out as she flew with Steven and Spinel, and where, so did Titanium, Atticus, Patch, Oddball, Jessica, and Mo.

"Spinel, where are we going?" Steven asked.

"Back..." Spinel replied. "To where I never left."

"The garden..." Cherry whispered to herself in realization.

Every one of them soon arrived at Pink Diamond's Garden. Spinel looked around at her surroundings, and gasped, running towards something.

"Spinel!" The others called out as they soon followed Spinel off of the warp pad.

"This was our garden," Spinel soon informed. "A special world built just for Pink and I."

Atticus soon used the illusion part of his crystal powers to show what he and Cherry saw in his vision. The garden was suddenly bright and vibrant, seeming more lively than it was now with forget-me-knot flowers and Pink Diamond was shown with Spinel.

"On Homeworld, Pink was so lonely and sad, but not here," Spinel reminisced as her past self began to play with Pink Diamond. "Here, we would play for hours. Every day was so much fun."

Spinel's past self was seen juggling three pink balls, entertaining Pink Diamond who laughed as she clapped her hands before stopping.

"At least... That's what I thought." Spinel then continued to show them about her past.

"Did something happen?" Steven asked in concern.

"Pink wanted a colony more than anything." Spinel stated softly.

"So then one day she got her own, right?" Oddball asked.

"Yeah," Spinel said before the scene began to change. "One day, her wish came true! Blue and Yellow gave Pink her very own planet: Earth! I was so excited! A brand new place to play!"

Spinel was shown happily bouncing around an excited Pink Diamond, then landed on her shoulder, smiling with her.

"So, why didn't you go with her?" Steven asked Spinel.

As Spinel followed Pink Diamond to the warp pad, Pink Diamond motioned her to stay back, but the former continued following her. The latter then stopped her by holding onto her hand.

"Here in the garden, Let's play a game, I'll show you how it's done~," Pink Diamond began to tell Spinel. "Here in the garden, Stand very still~"

"This'll be so much fun~" Spinel smiled.

Oddball stood close beside her uncle. Patch gave a small smile to soothe her.

"Uncle Patch, you don't think the Buddies will do that to me, do you?" Oddball asked. "Like Rosebud?"

"Oh, certainly not," Patch smiled in comfort. "The Buddies love you, especially Rosebud and Budderball."

Oddball smiled back, feeling relieved. Pink Diamond then smiled down at Spinel before leaving her. Oddball and Patch then continued to watch.

"And then she smiled, that's what I'm after~," Spinel sang as her past self watched Pink Diamond leave via warp pad. "The smile in her eyes, the sound of her laughter, Happy to listen, Happy to play, Happily watching her drift away~"

Jessica frowned a bit in worry for Spinel.

"Happily waiting all on my own under the endless sky, Counting the seconds standing alone as thousands of years go by~" Spinel sang as her past self stood still while the garden began to grow out of control.

Titanium frowned as what Rose did was she should have remembered to bring Spinel with her before starting the rebellion.

"Happily wondering, night after night~," Spinel sang as time went by before she walked off suddenly to the flowers in the garden. "Is this how it works?, Am I doing it right?, Happy to listen, happy to stay, Happily watching her drift away~"

"These flowers... They're forget-me-knots..." Jessica realized. "...That's powerful."

Oddball sniffed a flower, but winced because it smelled dead.

"You keep on turning pages, for people who don't care, People who don't care, About you~" Spinel sang, taking out the flower and held it out to Steven.

Steven accepted the flower only for it to be blown out of his hand by the wind.

"And still it takes you ages~," Spinel soon continued as she thought about Pink Diamond and their former friendship. "To see that no one's there, See that no one's there, See that no one's there, Everyone's gone on, without you~"

Cherry felt a deep feeling in her heart as that seemed to be her biggest fear as seen in several nightmares she's had of her friends drifting away from her and abandoning her. Past Spinel soon looked see that the Diamond Communicator had activated to show a familiar announcement.

"Finally something!, Finally news!, About how the story ends~," Spinel sang as her past self came to see the Diamond Communicator before seeing Steven's face on the screen. "She doesn't exist now, Survived by her son, And all of her brand new friends~"

"Ouch..." Cherry winced for poor Spinel.

"Isn't that lovely?, Isn't that cool?, And isn't that cruel?~" Spinel continued to sing as her past self fell to her knees, looking quite tearful of what had happened to her so-called best friend. "And aren't I a fool to have, Happily listened, Happy to stay, Happily watching her drift, Drift, Drift, Away?~" she then finished the song before she soon began to change into her form from when the others first met her, looking very sad now.

"Spinel, you got your memories back." Jessica said with a sad smile.

"We're so sorry that Pink Diamond left you here for 6,000 years." Atticus told Spinel sincerely.

"I can't believe Mom did that to you," Steven added before pausing. "Actually, I can totally believe it," he then tried to come close. "You're not the only one she hurt--"

Spinel then reactively pushed Steven away, tumbling him to the ground. "Rraah! Yeah, you must know all about her life without me!" she then growled, growing her hand into a giant fist as he tried to summon his shield, but failed. "Rub it in, why don't ya?!"

"No! It's not like that!" Steven cried out. "You deserve a better friend."

"Steven's right." Titanium told Spinel.

Spinel closed her eyes and angrily swung her fist at the column holding the Diamond Communicator instead, destroying it. She then sighed in defeat, kneeling down sadly.

"Spinel, come back and save the Earth with us," Steven told the depressed Gem. "You can start over there, make new friends."

"Spinel, I know it's hard to lose friends, especially with someone so close to you," Cherry said. "My biggest fear in life is losing my friends whether by cruel nature or them leaving me for someone else."

"That explains her nightmares about me leaving her for Twilight." Atticus remarked to himself.

Spinel didn't look back at them.

"Somewhere someday somehow you'll love again~" Titanium sang as he and the others walked up to Spinel.

Spinel turned away from them still.

"Someday, somewhere, somehow, (Someday, somewhere, somehow,)~," Steven soon sang along with Titanium until Spinel soon joined in then. "You'll love again, (I'll love again,), You just need to find someone, (I just need to find someone,), Someone who treats you better (Someone who treats me better)~"

Spinel was soon standing up with the others. They began to make their way back to the warp pad.

"Someone who wants you around, (Someone who wants me around,), Someday, somewhere, somehow, (Someday, somewhere, somehow,), You're gonna feel found... (I'm gonna feel found...)~" Everyone sang as they soon left on the warp pad.

Eventually, they were soon back on Earth as the others gave friendly smiles to Spinel, even Cherry.

"Today, right here, right now, I already feel found...~" Spinel then smiled tearfully back to them.

They soon made their way back into the beach house.

Meanwhile...

Pearl and Amethyst were nervously waiting for Steven while Garnet picked up a spork, touching it curiously.

"If they find her, they'll come back here, right?" Amethyst asked hopefully.

"Guess who's back?" Titanium smiled as he and the others, minus Spinel, showed up at the stairs before he looked at the remaining part of the party. "Come on down."

"Won't they all be... Not exactly incredibly thrilled to see me like this?" Spinel asked nervously, pointing to herself a bit.

"We just have to talk to them," Titanium said, taking her hands and helped her downstairs. "Ta-da!"

"W-W-W-W-W-What?!" Pearl cried out before summoning her spear, along with Amethyst who had summoned her whip.

"Oh, Spinel; did you change your hair?" Garnet asked calmly.

"Whoa, okay, calm down," Jessica told Pearl and Amethyst. "No one needs to fight."

"Jessica's right," Steven added. "Spinel got her memories back, but she's not gonna hurt us. Everything's chill."

Lion's portal suddenly opened, with Connie riding on his back through, unsheathing her sword and he landed on the ground.

"Aah!" Connie called out, landing by Pearl and she swung around her sword. "Hah! I'm here! Where's the fight?!"

"Don't fight!" Steven told her. "Everything's chill!"

Everyone then heard the sound of a toilet flushing is heard from Steven's bathroom.

Greg came out as Amethyst, Pearl, and Connie all automatically point their weapons at him.

"Aah!" Greg yelped before going back inside the bathroom. "Alright, alright. I'll wash my hands."

"Okay, everyone put their weapons away!" Titanium told Pearl, Amethyst, and Connie.

The others looked to each other and soon did that, though Connie did a bit of a double take with seeing Titanium since she had been keeping him secret for quite sometime.

"Whew," Steven sighed in relief before smiling to the Gem beside him. "Okay. Spinel, can I ask you a favor?"

"Are you kidding?" Spinel grinned. "Anything."

"We need you to turn off your injector." Steven told her.

They soon came outside as Bismuth, Lapis, and Peridot were hard at work. The others soon saw injector was still draining more fluid into the Earth. A lightning bolt flashed across the sky as the remaining Crystal Gems were still observing the situation. Peridot zoomed in on the injector with her tablet, which showed them a dire development: the fluid was now reaching critical mass.

"That sounds bad." Lapis remarked

"That looks bad." Bismuth added.

"That IS bad!" Peridot told them. "We're hitting critical mass."

"I guess we're just in time." Atticus said as he and the others came over.

Bismuth, Lapis, and Peridot yelped to see that they had sudden company.

"Steven!" Peridot called out. "What's the status on Spinel?"

"She's back, and she's here to help." Steven said with Spinel behind him.

Spinel then approached the injector, turned her finger into a horn and commanded the injector to remove itself from the Earth's crust. And where the injector did just that, thus saving the Earth.

"Whew." Mo smiled.

"Wow... That was easier than I thought it'd be." Cherry said.

"Tell me about it." Patch nodded to that.

"Okay. Can someone fill me in?" Connie soon asked.

"Thanks, Spinel." Steven sighed in relief.

"Aw, gee," Spinel smiled before they shook hands. "What are friends for?"

"Alright, now for Garnet." Titanium said.

"Yeah, all we need are Garnet's memories and my powers, and we can all get back to living happily ever after," Steven nodded to Titanium. "What could work for Garnet? Something about Fusion... Something about love..."

"What about me?" Spinel piped up.

"Huh?" The others asked.

"Is that all you needed me for?" Spinel asked as she felt hurt. "To turn off my injector?"

"Well, yeah, what else?" Cherry replied only to get her throat grabbed.

"Well, what now?" Spinel asked, looking like she was close to snapping. "I-I-I did what you wanted. That's it?"

"Well, yeah, we could all just forget this whole thing ever happened." Steven said.

"How you gonna forget with me around?" Spinel glared as she began to shake Cherry violently in her hold until Atticus soon got his best friend free and held onto her protectively. "I'm the source of all your problems. Don't pretend you want me here. What's your plan for me, huh? You gonna put me somewhere? You gonna leave me somewhere? You gonna leave me alone?!"

"Spinel..." Steven frowned, but before he could console Spinel, she smacked him, knocking him back and causing the Gem Rejuvenator to slide out of his jean pocket.

"Yipe!" Mo yelped.

Pearl and Amethyst soon ran in fear.

"Oh, what's this?" Garnet wondered as she proceeded to pick up the Rejuvenator

"G-Garnet, do-don't touch that!" Steven cried out as she grabbed the Rejuvenator simultaneously as Garnet turned it on.

"Why do you have that?" Spinel asked suspiciously.

"I-I was just carrying it," Steven replied. "I-I didn't have anywhere else to put it."

"'We can just forget this ever happened'?" Spinel soon quoted out of mockery. "You mean I can just forget this ever happened!" sh then laughed hysterically. "Wow! What a plan! I turn off the Injector, and then the moment my back is turned, Bam! Presto! Change-o! Problem solved! Well, think again. You're not getting rid of me that easy."

"C-Come now, let's just talk about this..." Cherry said anxiously.

"Yeah, we can just talk this out." Mo said.

Spinel soon turned her finger into a horn again and commanded the injector to smash into the Earth's crust.

"Run for it!" Peridot cried out.

Everyone soon ran out of the way as this was not good. The injector smashed into the Earth's crust, splashing its bio-toxin everywhere and knocking everyone back.

"I'm not letting you get one over on me, Steven Universe." Spinel scowled.

"I wasn't going to wipe your memory, Spinel!" Steven told her.

"You expect me to believe that you want me like this?" Spinel growled.

Garnet peeked out over the crater, looking down at Steven and Spinel's confrontation. "Steven? Why are you fighting?" she then asked. "Aren't we all friends?"

"Looks like we've still got an audience," Spinel remarked. "How about a front-row seat?" she then pulled Garnet to her, coiling her arms around her body as she held her hostage.

"Garnet!" Steven gasped.

"You know, this is pretty twisted, but I'm a little flattered that you liked the old me; innocent, loving, stupid," Spinel remarked to Steven. "If that's your thing, why don't you leave her like this?"

"Spinel, stop this!" Cherry told her as she came down to Steven.

"You are not the boss of me, mere mortal." Spinel glared at her.

"It doesn't have to be this way though!" Cherry replied.

"Oh, Steven here is so protective of his real friends, and he's so careless with your fake ones!" Spinel smirked then.

'She isn't making this easy.' Jessica thought to herself from her spot.

"Stop it." Steven frowned to the evil Gem.

"Then stop me!" Spinel taunted. "You wanna attack me. Just admit it. Or better yet, just try it!"

"No!" Steven and Cherry replied.

"Why not?" Spinel demanded.

"Because that's not the truth!" Steven said.

"Spinel, this has gone on long enough!" Cherry cried out.

Steven soon broke Spinel's weapon in half. Cherry looked a bit startled from that as she didn't expect it to happen.

"The truth," Garnet blinked and with an unprecedented force, she was able to suddenly break free from a surprised Spinel's grasp. "I've known hardships and confusion, but love can live through it all if you face the truth together." she then said and as her her memories began to flood back, she was soon able to finally regenerate, getting engulfed in a bright white light.

"That was the missing piece." Cherry smiled.

"No. Stop! Don't you dare!" Spinel called out, about to hurl a boulder out to crush Garnet, but she had no avail as the Fusion simply broke it apart with a simple punch.

"Oh, Garnet's gonna sing," Cherry smiled to Atticus. "I wish I could sing like her."

"Yeah, Garnet has a great singing voice." Atticus agreed.

"Oh, when a difficult day goes by~," Garnet soon began to sing as she glowed, going through different forms until she was back to her normal form with her visor back over her three eyes. "Keeping it together is hard, but that's why, You've got to try, You've got to try~"

"Ooh." Oddball smiled.

"And when there's a thundering storm outside~," Garnet continued to sing before helping Steven back up to his feet. "Underneath the covers you huddle and hide, Open your eyes, Open your eyes~"

Spinel's expression suddenly changed. Titanium smiled that Garnet was back with all her memories. Amethyst and Pearl soon came out to see what was going on.

"It's the true, it's the true~," Garnet sang as the other Crystal Gems soon came into a group hug altogether. "It's the true kinda love, It's the true, it's the true, It's the true kinda love~"

Patch nodded in agreement. Spinel soon lunged out only for Garnet to spot her and try to keep her from going any further.

"Stuck in the middle of fear and shame, Everybody's looking for someone to blame, Like it's a game, Like it's a game~" Garnet sang as she blocked the attack with her gauntlets and tossed Spinel to the side.

Spinel tried to attack the Crystal Gems, but Amethyst swung from the Injector with her whip, and kicked Spinel toward one of the injector's legs, looking like a spring coil.

"Nice." Mo said.

Cherry snickered from how Spinel looked right now. Spinel scowled and lunged out to punch both Cherry and Steven. Titanium soon grabbed Spinel with Garnet and they both soon grabbed the Gem by her ankles and stretched her out for Amethyst and Pearl to grab her wrists.

"Going up?" Cherry smirked at Spinel.

Spinel growled at her as Pearl and Amethyst grabbed her wrists tightly.

"And now I am better than 'win-or-lose'~," Garnet sang before Pearl and Amethyst joined in. "There's a new direction that I like to choose, It's called the truth, It's called the truth~"

Titanium soon winked to Garnet who then nodded and soon, they let go of Spinel along with Pearl and Amethyst which sent the stretchy Gem to go flying around like rubber.

"That had to hurt." Oddball winced.

"Meh. She'll get over it." Cherry said.

The others gave her a look which made her look back to them before looking bashful. Undefeated, a grinning Spinel bounced to the top of the Injector and blew a massive horn from her shape-shifting hands, causing all the bio-toxin to flood Beach City.

"Oh, crumbs..." Cherry mumbled.

"Crud..." Mo added.

"I can hear Hexxus laughing at me now all the way from Ferngully." Cherry grumbled.

Oddball looked curious of knowing who Hexxus was.

"Don't ask." Cherry told the young Dalmatian puppy.

"Or Cassandra's old friend Olivia from the Netherworld." Mo then commented.

"What do we do?" Patch asked.

"We can't give up..." Cherry said, trying to stay strong.

"We have to stop Spinel." Garnet added.

"Wait. You guys have your powers," Steven soon remembered. "You've gotta go save everybody. Cherry, you and your friends can help with those special necklaces you were telling us about. I'll deal with Spinel."

"She'll crush you, dude." Amethyst warned.

"You can't fight her." Pearl added.

"One of us has to come with you." Atticus said.

Cherry rubbed her arm a bit.

"Cherry..." Atticus said, looking over. "You tried to show empathy with Spinel."

"Yeah, but that wasn't very successful, now was it?" Cherry grumbled.

"No, but I'm sure that empathy is all that she needs to change to good." Atticus said.

Cherry let out a small groan.

"Cherry, you've changed a lot over the years, especially when you discovered the Element of Empathy," Atticus said, trying to lift her spirits to get her to help out. "I'm very proud of you and I know you can help Spinel see that. You can still help her out."

"I don't know, Atticus," Cherry sighed. "She's pretty mad at me and Steven."

"Which is why you and Steven have to talk to her." Atticus told her.

"But... I..." Cherry stammered.

"Right," Garnet soon said. "Move out."

"Come on then, Cherry," Steven told the perky goth. "You have to help me."

Cherry gulped a bit before she soon forced herself to go with Steven to confront Spinel.


	8. Chapter 8

"And the Crystal Gems should now become Alexandrite," Atticus said. "Hmm... I wonder if we could all fuse together with our necklaces?"

"Hmm... Possibly since we have a strong connection to each other." Mo said.

"I guess we could try it out sometime," Atticus smiled. "But right now, let's help Alexandrite."

"Right!" The others then agreed to that.

"Go, Go, Power Rangers!" Patch then cheered. "Erm... Adventure Team and Crystal Gems!"

Alexandrite soon roared as Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl fused into her, though that scared Oddball a bit.

"Let's start get civilians to Little Homeworld." Titanium said.

Alexandrite nodded to that as they worked together to help the residents of Beach City. Titanium and Alexandrite soon moved residents out of certain danger, carrying them to safety as Greg took some people to his van, getting hit by the toxic sludge, but was still able to drive off. Connie then rode off on Lion to help some people out. Atticus, Patch, and Mo did their best in helping people out.

"Uncle Patch, I'm not sure if I wanna be a Crystal Gem anymore." Oddball pouted.

"That's okay, Oddball, you'll find something you like when you're grown up like me," Patch smiled. "You had fun with Rebound, Patches, and Cupcake with the Pound Puppies during your visit after we helped the Muppets."

"Yeah." Oddball smiled back.

A boy looked surprised to Patch and Oddball from talking.

"You must be Onion," Jessica said to the boy. "I knew your big brother, Sour Cream."

The boy then nodded as that was his name.

"You don't talk much, do you?" Jessica asked.

Onion shook his head from that. The adventure group, Jessica, Titanium, and the Crystal Gems soon got the civilians to Little Homeworld.

Meanwhile, Cherry and Steven were on their way to Spinel and weren't too far off now as they climbed up the Injector together.

"Hey, you, show me that solvable problem~," Steven sang on the way to Spinel. "We can get through this, I'll do the hardest part with you~"

'I can't believe this is how we're getting up to the top.' Cherry thought to herself.

Steven looked back at his home in worry before they continued to climb up together.

"It's the true, it's the true, It's the true kinda love, It's the true, it's the true~," Garnet's voice sang as Alexandrite helped the other Beach City residents to safety. "It's the true kinda love, It's the true, it's the true, It's the true kinda love, It's the true, it's the true, It's the true kinda love~"

Steven and Cherry soon got to the top of the injector. Both of them then collapsed to the top.

"Ugh... I hope Magic School appreciates the sacrifices I make for them..." Cherry groaned a bit.

The two then stood up and came towards Spinel as she was shown on the other edge.

"Hm... Dimples would probably like this..." Cherry commented from the top of the injector as it resembled a pink heart.

"Spinel, come on," Steven panted to the evil Gem. "We can talk this out."

"I don't wanna play anymore." Spinel replied without looking at them.

"Spinel, we're not playing, we just want to talk." Cherry told her.

Spinel then punched both Steven and Cherry in their faces, leaving bruises.

"Wow! That actually hurt!" Cherry complained. "I thought it'd feel like rubber!"

"Shows what YOU know!" Spinel scowled as she went to continue beating them up, nearly pushing them to the edge.

"Whoa!" Cherry yelped.

Steven frowned as he wiped his nose and soon found blood. Spinel then stretched her arms out, grabbing a hold of the two and dangled them high above Beach City.

"Spinel, please..." Cherry begged in desperation.

"You know, I came here to take my anger out on a bunch of strangers, but now that I know you, I wanna kill you even more." Spinel growled as she began to let go of them, finger-by-finger.

"Steven, how's your gem doing?" Cherry asked.

"Probably not so good." Steven said as he was nearly slipping as Spinel caught his sleeve.

Steven's gemstone was shown to be flickering on and off again while Cherry tried not to panic from the precarious situation.

"I don't get it!" Steven soon cried out.

Cherry and Spinel both looked confused at why he cried out suddenly.

"Huh?" Spinel blinked.

"Why aren't my powers back?" Steven began to cry with his tears falling a long way down. "Aren't I reliving every horrible thing that's ever happened to me? A Gem I barely know is trying to kill me. I'm paying for stuff my Mom did that had nothing to do with me. I'm struggling with my powers. The world's about to end! What piece could I be missing? This is the story of my life!"

This caused Spinel to start laughing.

"Wh-What's so funny?" Cherry asked, trying not to have a nervous breakdown from the height.

"Wow! I knew that I was gonna set you back, but this is how you started?" Spinel laughed. "The legend, Steven Universe? You gotta be kidding me. How did a powerless loser like you become savior of the galaxy?!"

"...I changed," Steven soon said until he realized what was meant to be happening. "That's the final piece. All those struggles; I learned from them, and I grew. Oh, my gosh. It's not just my Gem powers I've forgotten. All of this happily ever after stuff has made me forget the first power I ever had the power to change."

"Should have known." Cherry groaned to herself.

Spinel looked unimpressed and soon began to let Cherry and Steven fall to their deaths. Cherry looked a bit apprehensive as this looked like this was it for her and she slowly shut her eyes being a bubble seemed to come out with from her gemstone, engulfing her in a bubble which looked a bit like Opal's color tones when fused with Pearl and Amethyst. Also, Steven's powers finally reactivated as he soon stopped in mid-air. A triumphant Steven, now with his abilities finally back to him, cycled through his disk shields, to his bubble, to his spiked bubble, and then to his Gem form's geometric bubble, which he detonated in a shockwave that sent a shocked Spinel backwards.

"Whew." Cherry sighed as her bubble seemed to save her.

Steven soon wiped the blood from his nose as he and Cherry soon came back on top of the Injector to get back at Spinel.

"I can make a promise~," Steven began to sing calmly. "I can make a plan, I can make a difference, I can take a stand~"

"I can make an effort, If I only understand~," Cherry soon added. "That I, I can make a change!~"

Spinel soon tried to punch them again only for them to bring out shields from their magic after Cherry came out of her bubble. Cherry glared as she wasn't going to let that happen again. Spinel soon spun around like a spinning top. Cherry glared, deflecting with her shield as Steven did the same with his. Spinel soon sent them flying as she broke out of her spinning top form.

"Spinel, listen to us," Cherry told the evil Gem. "We understand how you feel. After everything you've been through, you must be in a lot of pain."

"No, no," Spinel said almost emotional until hitting herself on the head. "You two can't change way I feel!"

Steven had bubbles on his fists while Cherry magicked up opal boxing gloves and they began to brawl against Spinel as she tried to beat them up again.

"That's right!" Steven soon told Spinel. "Only YOU can!"

Spinel soon grabbed the two of them and spun them around and around before sending them flying.

"Whoa." Cherry said.

Spinel then morphed her lower half into a coil and soon bounced in after them.

"You can make it different~," Steven sang. "You can make it right~"

"You can make it better~," Cherry added. "We don't have to fight!~"

"You can make an effort~" Steven sang.

"Starting with tonight!~" Cherry added.

Spinel looked tearful at first as they passed by the full moon.

'I think it's working.' Cherry thought to herself.

Spinel soon looked right at them.

"'Cuz you can~..." Cherry began.

"You can make a~..." Steven added.

"A change~..." Cherry and Steven concluded together as they fought Spinel even if they really didn't want to.

They soon saw that the song wasn't changing a thing as Spinel looked ready to punch them both back down.

"Spinel, please, for goodness's sake!" Cherry begged.

"Just can it, won't ya?!" Spinel glared as she cocked her fist and aimed it down at them. "You can't just make everything better by singing SOME STUPID SONG!"

"Heh, I have adventures of doing that that say otherwise?" Cherry grinned sheepishly.

Spinel's fist soon shot down at Steven and Cherry. The two soon careened down the Injector's surface. The impact was enough to shake the Earth and damage the machine, yet as Spinel descended from the sky, seeing her two victims unharmed from the blow, bearing his shield.

"Spinel... Please..." Cherry begged as she began to sound broken on the inside.

"All that stuff's easy for you to say," Spinel soon continued. "When you change, you change for the better. When I change, I change for the worse!" she then lunged out at the two who luckily defended the blows with their Gem Shields. "I used to be just not good enough! just not good enough for Pink, but now... Now... I'M NOT GOOD AT ALL!"

"But you could be and you still can." Cherry told her.

Growing her fists to ridiculous sizes, Spinel then slammed them down at Steven's and Cherry's shields, further cracking the injector's surface.

"I think we need to chat," Cherry said. "Please... Talk to us. I might not seem like it, but I can actually be quite sympathetic and empathetic. I've been through stuff like this."

Spinel looked to her before laughing, but it sounded more like crying. "That's funny, r-right?" she then spoke emotionally. "A-At least you found me entertaining. You actually liked me, didn't you? What am I doing? Why do I wanna hurt you so bad? I'm supposed to be a friend. I just wanna be a friend."

Cherry frowned before walking over to Spinel. Steven then began to lower his defense.

"Spinel..." Cherry spoke very softly.

But before she could comfort a sobbing Spinel, the injector began to explode from the damage it had sustained. Only capable of looking at each other, Steven, Cherry, and Spinel were all engulfed in an Earth-shattering explosion, which the Crystal Gems, Greg, Connie, and the residents of Beach City and Little Homeworld, along with the adventure group, watched in shock from the safety of the latter.

"Steven! Cherry!" The adventure group, Titanium, Pearl, Amethyst, and Garnet gasped.

Debris fell from the skies as some smoke clouds cleared. Cherry, Steven, and Spinel were shown in a Rose Quartz/Opal bubble as Steven and Cherry seemed to survive the explosion as they held onto Spinel while floating over to the damaged crater.

"Well, that's one way of getting rid of an injector." Cherry said as she looked all around before waving while Steven held onto Spinel.

The bubble soon dissipated once they landed.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no. What did I do? I've wrecked everything," Spinel stammered nervously. "But what about the poison? What about the planet? What about your happily ever after?"

"I'm afraid that even though I've lived through several fairy tales, there's no such thing as a happily ever after," Cherry replied. "All we can do is live through every day with what ever life throws at us."

"Cherry's right," Steven agreed. "We'll always have more work to do."

Spinel began to look guilty until Steven held out his hand for her and he helped her up into a standing position. "I'm sorry." she then told both of them.

"It's okay." Cherry said softly.

"Steven?" Connie's voice called.

"Cherry!" Atticus's voice added.

"Connie?/Atticus?" Steven and Cherry blinked.

Connie and Atticus soon approached in the distance with Lion.

"Guys, where are you?!" Connie called out.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" Atticus added.

"Connie! Atticus!" Cherry's voice replied.

The two soon looked down to see their fallen friends.

"We'll be right back," Steven told Spinel before walking off with Cherry. "Really."

"We won't be long." Cherry added.

Spinel watched them go as Connie and Atticus ran from the other side as Cherry and Steven began to run up to them.

"We saw that huge explosion and--" Connie said before hugging Steven warmly.

"I-I'm okay. I'm okay," Steven blushed a bit from the hug. "What about you?"

Connie sighed happily to him. "I'm fine."

"And his gem is back at full power." Cherry said.

"Cherry, you okay?" Atticus asked his best friend. "You look a little hurt."

"I'll be okay, I guess." Cherry replied calmly.

Lion soon came in between Steven and Connie.

"Lion!" Steven beamed, hugging his mother's animal companion.

"Are you alright?" Mo asked Steven and Connie as she and the others came over.

Spinel looked emotional from the friendship reunion as she would never get to experience with Pink Diamond.

"I'll be fine." Steven replied.

Patch soon came up to Cherry and licked her face.

"Stop! STOP! Hey, that tickles!" Cherry cried out before Oddball joined in.

"I knew it!" Oddball beamed.

Cherry soon wiped her face from doggy slobber.

"Were you worried about us?" Steven asked.

"Sure seems that way." Connie smiled.

"Of course we were." Titanium added.

A horn sounded off nearby, as Greg arrived in his van with the Crystal Gems. They drove down into the crater, before popping out almost theatrically.

"Steven!" Greg and the Crystal Gems called out.

"Guys! Dad!" Steven called back.

"Oh, thank goodness," Jessica smiled, hugging Cherry suddenly. "You're my brother's best friend, so you're like a sister to me too."

"Thanks, Jessica, you're like another sister to me." Cherry said softly.

"Is everyone from Beach City okay?" Steven asked the others.

"Everyone is safe and accounted for." Garnet nodded as Pearl gave Steven a thumbs-up, while Amethyst and Connie showed him peace signs.

Steven then returned a relieved look before looking at Greg's blackened arm with concern. "Dad, your arm."

"Hey, I just got a little careless and--" Greg shrugged bashfully.

"Don't worry," Steven said as he took his father's hand. "You'll be good as new in no time."

"Yep, he's right." Cherry nodded.

"But, Steven, you don't have your--" Greg told his son, but with a single kiss to the back of his hand, Steven was able to successfully heal his father's hand, restoring it to its regular color. "Steven! You got your powers back!" he then beamed for his son.

"It'd be cool if you could do that to the whole planet, heh." Amethyst smirked a bit.

"Amethyst, that's not a bad idea." Steven replied as he went to try that.

"Dude, I was joking." Amethyst then scoffed.

"I'll handle that part." Mo smiled before she used her Equestrian magic to restore life to the plants.

The Crystal Gems looked a bit amazed from Mo's help with Equestrian magic.

"Oh, my gosh," Connie gasped. "That actually worked?"

"Of course it did." Atticus smiled proudly to his girlfriend.

"Wow, that was much faster." Steven smiled.

"Thank the powers of nature." Mo smiled back.

"Well, in that case, thank you, nature!" Steven beamed to her.

Suddenly, a familiar car pulled up to show a certain warlock.

"Drell?!" The adventure group asked.

"Kids, are you okay?" Drell asked, checking on Atticus, Mo, Cherry, and Patch. "Are you all okay? I tried calling you because I sense of danger with you guys being around Spinel. Oh, Cherry, you're bruising more than usual."

"Oh..." Cherry said as she barely noticed her bruises.

"Are you okay?" Drell asked in deep concern.

"I'm fine... Wait, were you worried about us?" Cherry asked.

Drell blinked before turning away bashfully. "Pfft! No, I mean, uh... Get real!" he then said. "If anything happened to YOU guys, your parents would kill me! Psh... Worried about you guys..."

"Why didn't you call?" Atticus asked.

"I tried, but nothing happened." Drell shrugged.

"Strange." Mo said.

Spinel was soon seen walking away.

"Aw, chips!" Cherry said before going after her with Steven. "Spinel, wait!"

"We really were going to come back." Steve told Spinel.

"I know." Spinel replied.

"Then w-where are you going?" Cherry asked, a bit worriedly.

"I've got work to do," Spinel stated. "Friendship isn't going to be easy for me. I'm gonna have to work at it. You make me wanna try, but..." she then let out a sigh. "I've already messed up bad with you. I wish I could just start from scratch with somebody," And where her answer was soon coming from above. "Whaaa?!" she then gasped as she didn't expect that at all.


	9. Chapter 9

A special spaceship-like vehicle was soon coming in for a landing

"The D-D-D-D-D-D--..." Drell stuttered as he looked a bit scared and nervous about being here right now.

"Knock-Knock, Steven." One voice announced.

"It's us." A second voice added.

"The Diamonds?" A third voice concluded. "Are we interrupting something?"

Drell was soon seen looking ready to faint.

"Uh... Yeah!" Steve soon answered the question that was asked to him.

Spinel then retreated behind a large chunk of debris, as the three Diamonds descended from the ship.

"Ooh..." Drell let out a small groan before he the n fell i the middle of the ground.

"Is it his nap time?" Oddball wondered.

"Yellow, Blue, White, what are you all doing here?" Steven asked the three giant nonhuman women.

"Well, Steven, we were all talking and--" Yellow began util she soon stopped to smell something. "I'm sorry, but what is that smell?"

"What does it smell like?" Patch asked.

"This air... The ground... That water stuff..." Yellow Diamond replied.

"Oh, that's just how our planet smells," Patch said. "I guess we're just used to it and it smells weird to you since you're from outer-space ad we live here."

"Hmm..." Yellow Diamond paused from that.

"Anyway, we were talking, and we decided--" Blue Diamond spoke up.

"This is taking too long!" White Diamond complained. "Steven! We've come to Earth to live with you-u-u~" she then burst out, pointing her massive finger at Steven.

"Okay then..." Cherry said.

"What?" Steven asked the Diamonds. "My house isn't big enough for all of us."

"Oh, well, I'm sure we could make due with, um..." White Diamond replied before looking out at Beach City's ruined state: land split open, houses ruined, and injector debris scattered with a car alarm ringing in the distance. "Has your planet always been this... Destroyed?" she asked.

"Not that we're judging." Blue Diamond quickly added.

"Goodness, no, because judging anything based on appearance is wrong!" White Diamond said from that.

"Well, that's a good lesson." Cherry replied.

"True that." Mo nodded.

Steven paused and glared at White, unfazed and less than amused at her patronizing attempt to resonate with him. "Yeah, I don't know about this." he then said.

"But, Steven, it's been soooooo boring since you've left!" White Diamond soon fake cried. "I guess we'll just waaaait for you to viiisit us wheneeeever youuuuu'rre reeeaaaaaaaaadyyyyyy."

Cherry and Atticus shared a deadpan glance with each other from that.

"Wow, she's really going with fake crying." Mo whispered, unimpressed to Atticus and Cherry.

"Totally..."Cherry and Atticus replied with the same tone.

White Diamond slowly stomped back to the ship, feigning sadness in order to guilt Steven into giving her attention. The ground shook with each colossal footstep. Drell groaned as that soon woke him up.

"Aw, come on. Don't be like that," Steven replied. "I-It's just, I'm right in the middle of saying goodbye to--"

Cherry whispered to Steven as she suddenly had an idea.

Steven beamed from that before asking, "Do you guys remember Spinel?"

"I'm sorry, who?" White Diamond asked.

Steven then turned to Spinel who was still hiding behind a piece of rubble. "Spinel, you've met the Diamonds before, right?" he then asked.

"Y-Yeah, but... They've never seen me like this." Spinel said as she covered her face.

"Come on; I'm sure everything will be alright." Cherry told her.

Spinel then began to walk out to see the Diamonds up close.

Blue, Yellow, White, this is Spinel!" Steven introduced.

"My Diamon... Nnds." Spinel soon greeted with the traditional salute.

'They've got to recognize her.' Patch thought to himself.

The three Diamonds reacted with stunned surprise. White gasped audibly and held her hands to her face.

"Pink's little playmate?" Yellow Diamond asked.

"One of Pink's lost treasures." Blue Diamond added.

"Mom left her on a floating garden in space." Steven told them.

"You poor thing." Blue Diamond cooed.

"Ha, it was only 6,000 years. I could do that standing on my head!" Spinel replied, then, fittingly enough, Spinel did a handstand and clapped her squeaky shoes together.

Drell felt a bit nervous with how Yellow Diamond could get sometimes, even rivaling him in temper, however...

Yellow Diamond was heard laughing. "Only 6,000 years! It's true--that's nothing! And that goofy handstand," she then wiped a tear of joy. "I like this Gem."

'Looks like they haven't noticed Titanium.' Patch thought to himself.

Titanium soon came out to the three Diamonds.

"Titanium..." The Diamonds gasped to him.

"Diamonds." Titanium replied with a low bow.

"It's been years since we saw you." Blue said.

"I'll say," Titanium replied. "It's good to see you all again."

Drell soon stood up, adjusting his glasses as he stood behind the male Gem.

"Why you hidin'?" Cherry smirked beside him, startling him a bit.

"Shh!" Drell shushed her with a glare.

Titanium soon stepped aside so then Drell would be seen.

"D'oh! Hello..." Drell smiled nervously, waving to the Diamonds. "White, Yellow, Blue, you all look well."

"It's been a while, but you look great." Blue smiled back to him calmly.

"So, you guys know each other?" Cherry asked her magical guardian.

"I just hope they don't blame me for that whole Pink Diamond mess." Drell replied with a hint.

"Why would they?" Atticus asked.

"I guess in a way though, I helped out because then the war ended." Drell replied.

"You got Pink Diamond shattered?!" Cherry asked.

"Hey, I was sent in to help out in a world I knew nothing about, I panicked." Drell defended.

"So, you helped in faking her shattering?" Mo asked him.

"Yeah... Then I ran away..." Drell said bashfully. "I'm sorry about that by the way, Diamonds." he then flinched, fearing the worst from Yellow Diamond's possible wrath.

"That's okay." Yellow Diamond soon told him.

"Really? Um, well, then..." Drell said.

"Anyway, this Gem is so adorable and so much like Pink." Blue Diamond soon said.

"Spinel, I--" White Diamond said before clearing her throat. "Steven, since the Earth is so disgusting, we'll just take Spinel back to Homeworld with us, and you can stay here."

"Really?" Steven asked.

"Huh?" Spinel blinked in surprise.

"Oh, that sounds nice, being a group of four best friends again," Jessica beamed. "It'll be like when I first met Alex, Sam, and Clover."

'And cue the song.' Mo thought to herself.

"Come live with us in the palace, There's a room waiting for you, Come on, come on, come on, Just let us adore you~," The Diamonds began to sing hopefully to Spinel. "Come live with us in the palace, There's a room waiting for you, Come on, come on, come on, Just let us adore you, Yes we know that you're not her, but you were hers, You know what it meant to love her, And you remind us so much of her~"

Cherry gestured hopefully to Spinel to have her agree to the Diamonds' offer as it sounded pretty sweet. Titanium, Pearl, Amethyst, and Garnet couldn't believe they were hearing the Diamonds actually singing.

"You think you could handle them?" Steven asked Spinel cautiously. "They're not exactly easy to get along with."

Spinel's longing and solemn expression changed to a warm smile, as she bounced and joined the Diamonds in their song, finally having found someone who could reciprocate her affection.

"Today, (come live with us in the palace) right here, right now, (There's a room waiting for you), I'll love again, (Come on, come on, come on), I've already found someone, Just let us adore you~" The Diamonds sang, Yellow Diamond extended her hand to let Spinel step onto it so that they could all leave together.

"Yes, I know that you're not her, and I was hers~," Spinel soon sang back. "You know what it meant to love her, and you remind me so much of her, Today, right here, right now, We'll love again, We've already found someone~" She soon left for Homeworld with the Diamonds.

"Goodbye, Spinel." Cherry whispered as this seemed like the last they would see of the formerly evil Gem who was simply just misunderstood.

Spinel soon gave a farewell "peace" symbol on her way out from Earth.

"So, you're all okay?" Drell asked.

"A bit battered up, but I guess it could've been worse." Cherry said, wiping her face a bit from the abuse she and Steven suffered from.

"That's good." Drell said.

"So, you were the one who inspired the shattering of Pink Diamond?" Cherry asked.

"Uh... Moving on..." Drell changed the subject sheepishly. "Atticus, you have a family member who is linked to the race of Crystal Gems and it passed down to her daughter."

"Hmm... Well, I know Thorn is a Wiccan from Aunt Delilah's side..." Atticus paused.

"She's also mortal on her father's side." Drell said, ruling out Thorn.

"Wendy from Gravity Falls?" Cherry spoke up.

"Nope." Drell then said, opening the back-seat of the car to show one of Atticus's cousins who had come with her own pet dog.

"DOT?!" The others gasped to see Atticus's little cousin as she seemed to be the one as she wore a green gemstone necklace of her own.

"I did not see that coming." Atticus said.

"Heya, Patch." Lucky smiled to his son figure.

"Hey, Lucky!" Patch beamed before they shared a hug.

"Your little cousin came over for a visit, but you weren't home, then I felt like she seemed familiar somehow." Drell replied.

"Oh, that's right," Atticus replied. "You two never properly met."

"No, we didn't." Drell shook his head.

"Uncle Patrick said to trust this guy." Dot told Atticus.

"Hm... Trusting Drell... Well, I guess he hasn't poisoned us at least." Cherry replied.

"Also, I just know that whichever one of you was able to talk through to Spinel, I'm very proud of ya." Drell said to his personal students.

"Oh, then you should be proud of Cherry." Atticus smiled.

Cherry looked a bit bashful.

"Is it true, Cherry?" Drell asked, leaning in a bit. "Did you talk to Spinel?"

"Um... Y-Yeah..." Cherry replied. "I channeled my Element of Harmony which is Empathy."

"Wow, impressive." Drell smiled.

"Heh... Thanks..." Cherry replied bashfully.

Drell then suddenly hugged her. "Good girl!"

Cherry muffled a bit in the hug.

"What was that?" Drell asked as he let her go.

"I said I'm glad that I actually did something useful," Cherry replied. "So, do we go home now?"

"Not quite..." Drell said. "I think it's time for Beach City to see another Fusion."

"Ooh." Mo smiled.

"I know that I want to." Drell smirked.

"So, uh, who fuses with who?" Cherry asked.

"I was thinking maybe you guys could together," Drell told them all. "I'd ask Sabrina to join in, but she's not here."

"Alright, so how do we do that?" Patch asked.

"Okay, stand around each other." Drell began.

The group then lined up together.

"Hold out your gems." Drell continued.

The group did that as well before their gems suddenly glowed.

"Okay, now one of you stand right here, and the others will run to tackle you," Drell said. "Cherry, I volunteer you."

"Huh?!" Cherry gasped.

"Okay, go!" Drell told the others as he got out of the way.

The adventure group soon charged at each other and as they collided, they also fused together. Cherry yelped before her voice seemed to fade at first.

"Whoa... I didn't think that would happen..." Drell said, looking up to them as they seemed to be bigger and taller than him.

"Drell, what's going on?" Cherry's voice asked.

"Did we fuse?" Mo's voice added.

"Wait... I hear you guys, but where are you...?" Atticus's voice asked.

"I'm right here, but where are you?" Patch's voice replied.

Drell soon took a hold of the form in front of him and soon led them to the ocean to show a new Fusion Gem, startling the group before they all realized that they were all fused together into a single sparkling and glittering, yet pale gold form. "Congratulations, you have fused into Gold Zultanite." he told his students.

"Whoa." The adventure group's fusion said.

"You should feel proud," Drell said. "I don't think I've seen a Golden Gem before. You each have Atticus's strength, Mo's healing, Patch's plan making from what I've heard of him with the Pound Puppies."

"He gets that from me." Lucky smirked as he was a bit of Patch's foster father in Shelter 17.

"Erm... Right..." Drell replied. "And you also have Cherry's dream-bending powers, so you can summon your own weapons at will if needed. I don't know when Gold Zultanite will be needed in the future, but just make sure you have your Crystal Gem necklaces from Ms. Magrooney."

"You got it, Drell." Gold Zultanite said.

"All right, Defuse now." Drell said.

"Uh... How do we do that?" Cherry's voice asked.

"Pull yourselves apart like you're trying to escape from each other." Garnet advised as she was a Fusion Gem.

Gold Zultanite soon began to try to do that and they soon all yelped and fell to the ground together, separated from each other.

"That was awesome." Patch smiled.

"I don't know if I'll get used to that though." Cherry said.

"You will eventually," Drell replied. "Then when Sabrina comes, she'll help with the magic."

The others nodded to that then.

A new van soon pulled up before three familiar girls to Jessica came out curiously. One had short black hair, another had long red hair, and the final one had short blonde hair.

"So, is this Beach City?" The redheaded girl asked.

"That's what the GPS said." The black-haired girl shrugged.

"Alex, Sam, Clover!" Jessica beamed.

The three girls looked over and beamed to the brown-haired girl. "Jessica!"

The four soon ran into each other before they all hugged each other. Oddball looked up curiously to the friendly reunion as she didn't know these girls since she met Jessica when the girl was in college.

"Who are those girls?" Dot asked, tugging on Atticus's shirt.

"Jessica's friends from high school." Atticus smiled.

"What are you three doing here?" Jessica smiled at her three friends.

"We got a little jealous." Sam said bashfully.

"Jealous?" Jessica asked in concern. "Jealous of what?"

"That you got to come into town for a visit, but you came to your family and not us." Clover said playfully.

"Oh, pfft!" Jessica rolled her eyes playfully then. "You know my family always comes first."

"Yeah, but what about your friends?" Alex asked playfully.

"Alright, alright, I'll try to visit more often," Jessica chuckled. "We'll talk in a bit."

The three smiled to their old friend as this seemed to be a nice reunion so far. Steven was soon seen holding hands with Connie as he looked back at the happy Crystal Gems, Greg, and Lion; the latter of which licks Greg's face, prompting laughter.

"Here we are in the future~," Steven began to sing. "Here we are in the future and it's bright, Nothing to fear, No one to fight, I can't believe we've come so far, Happily ever after there we were~"

"Here we are~" The Crystal Gems sang.

They soon went onto the Warp Pad and came into Little Homeworld where the humans of Beach City were, looking quite happy and cheerful to the Crystal Gems, even a cute little baby.

"So happily we'll face~," Steven sang as Bismuth gave a doll to the baby while Lapis juggled with her water wings. "Whatever comes our way, And after, we might do it all again~"

Titanium nodded in agreement.

"Here we are in the future~" Bismuth sang as she came up to Steven.

"Here we are in the future~," Peridot and Lapis added. "Are you ready every day?~"

"For as long as I can say~," Steven smiled to them before coming to Kiki's grandmother. "I can make a change~"

'This feels like a finale song.' Drell thought to himself.

"Here we are in the future~," Steven sang before the others soon joined in. "I can make a change, Here we are in the future, Here we are in the future, I can make a change, Here we are in the future~"

Everyone soon came together, even Alex, Sam, and Clover to help restore Beach City back to how it was before Spinel attacked.

"Here we are in the future (Here we are in the future), Here we are in the future (Here we are in the future), Here we are in the future (Here we are in the future), Here we are in the future~," Everyone sang together as Jessica smiled tearfully with Steven from her childhood home as things turned out nicely for everyone, especially Steven and the Crystal Gems. "Here we are, Here we are, Come so far (Come so far), And it's bright, And it's bright, And it's bright, And it's bright, And it's bright, And it's bright!, I'll be ready every day, For as long as I can say, Here I am in the future with my friends (I can make a change), That's why, Happily ever after never... Ends~"

Dot beamed as even she got to help out with Lucky before she then hugged her dog as he smiled to her.


	10. Chapter 10

"So, guys... This is Oddball..." Jessica smiled to Sam, Alex, and Clover. "I adopted her last year."

Oddball soon smiled up at Sam, Alex, and Clover.

"Oddball, these are my best friends from high school," Jessica introduced. "Sam Simpson, Clover Euwing, and Alex Vasquez."

"Hello!" Oddball spoke up suddenly.

The three girls gasped from that in shock.

"Whoops... Guess I forgot about that." Jessica said sheepishly.

"Oops." Oddball said as she covered her mouth.

Alex, Sam, and Clover then seemed to pass out.

"It's okay, Oddball," Jessica soothed. "I sorta knew these girls a long time before we all found out about Puppy Power."

"Guess we'll have to explain to them how she's able to talk." Atticus said.

"Do you remember them, Atticus?" Jessica smiled.

"Yeah, from when they came over sometimes when I was in middle school with Cherry, Mo, and Sabrina." Atticus smiled back.

"They were very special friends," Jessica said bashfully. "You could say our friendship was an adventure."

"I swear though that Gem Stone was that Mandy girl's younger sister with how you would talk about her." Atticus replied about his older sister's high school days.

"Yeah, I know." Jessica said.

"Is she...?" Cherry asked about Mandy.

"Maybe..." Jessica smirked playfully.

"That's a yes." Oddball said playfully.

"So, this is Alex, Sam, and Clover..." Cherry said. "I haven't seen these three in a while."

"Tell me about it." Atticus added.

"I still remember the day that we all first met." Jessica smiled until her three old friends began to come to.

"I had the weirdest dream." Alex said as she came to.

"Bet mine was weirder..." Clover mumbled. "There weren't even cute college boys in mine."

"Oh, brother," Jessica playfully rolled her eyes. "Hey, girls."

"Oh, hey, Jessica," Sam replied. "When did you get here?"

"Heh... Uncle Greg, mind if we hang around the beach house until we go back home?" Jessica asked.

"Not at all, it'd be nice to have you," Greg smiled. "It'll be like the old days when your parents let me and Rose watch you on some nights."

"Cool." Jessica smiled back.

"I guess you have a lot of fond memories here, huh?" Cherry asked Jessica.

"Oh, you have no idea," Jessica replied. "I also can't wait to get to know Peridot, Bismuth, and Lapis."

"That'll be great," Steven said. "Atticus, your friend Cherry almost reminds me of when I first met Peridot when we were helping her get adjusted to Earth."

"Hmm... I suppose she is kinda like me." Peridot said.

"You both have developed so much though," Atticus smiled. "Peridot, with your growth as a person."

"Character Development." Peridot stated proudly.

"Yeah, that," Atticus replied. "Especially you, Cherry, when you've discovered the Element of Empathy."

Cherry gave a bit of a bashful shrug.

"You seem really sweet, Lapis." Mo smiled to the Gem she seemed to become best friends with.

"Thanks," Lapis smiled back. "Of course, it took me some time to warm up to others."

"Oh, sure, I know how that feels," Mo nodded. "When I lived on the streets with my dog, I wasn't sure who I could trust as a person."

"You lived on the streets?" Lapis asked.

"Oh, yeah," Mo nodded again. "I used to live in foster homes with my dog... It seemed like no one wanted us around... Then we found a junkyard. I liked the other dogs alright, except for maybe Buster... Then I met Atticus and it seemed like my whole life changed."

"Just like how I met Steven when we first became friends." Lapis said.

Atticus and Mo smiled from that.

"And Bismuth? Heh... I'd hate to mess with you." Atticus chuckled with how big and strong that Bismuth seemed.

"Comes with territory in working with Rose Quartz as an original Crystal Gem," Bismuth smirked proudly. "The only one that you'd really hate to mess with would be Titanium; he's one super-powered powerhouse."

Titanium smiled a bit bashfully before sighing. "I'm sorry that I left you guys." he then told Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl.

"I knew that you would come back someday though." Garnet replied.

"Right... Sapphire's Future Vision..." Titanium said. "But I've been staying with Connie this whole time on Earth and I asked her to keep my location a secret. I was just scared to see you again after I left when Steven was born."

"And I guess the reason was because of how close you were the Rose/Pink, just like Pearl was and only left because seeing his Gem would just remind you that she wasn't coming back?" Amethyst guessed before seeing surprised looks. "What?"

"Erm... Yes, actually..." Titanium said to Amethyst. "Exactly."

Amethyst soon randomly brought out a white board and marked down when she was right to when Pearl and the others were right. Pearl rolled her eyes a bit from that.

"Heh, Amethyst was right about something," Jessica smirked. "How often has that happened?"

"Very funny, Jess." Amethyst replied.

"So, these Crystal Gem things are real?" Alex asked. "I thought they were just random doodles in Jessica's notebook back in high school."

"I guess they have been real all along." Sam said.

Jessica smiled bashfully. Oddball soon came back over.

"And... Sorry you had to find out Puppy Power with the way you did." Jessica then sheepishly told her friends.

"It's okay, we had to find out sooner or later." Clover shrugged.

"Uh, let's start over," Sam said. "Who's this?"

"This is my dog, Oddball," Jessica smiled. "She's also my brother Atticus's dog, Patch's niece. She loves to eat socks, chew on furniture, and is a good friend to the Air Buddies."

"Air Buddies..." Sam said. "Aren't those the puppies from that sports playing dog, Air Bud?"

"Exactly!" Oddball smiled. "I go on a lot of adventures with the Buddies, though probably not as much as Uncle Patch."

"It's true." Patch added.

Things seemed to be wrapping up nicely.

Dot was soon learning about her own Gem powers with Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, Steven, Lapis, Peridot, Titanium, and Bismuth.

"Looks like Dot is having a lot of fun." Patch smiled to his father figure.

"Yeah, she sure is," Lucky chuckled. "I don't think I've seen her this happy in a long time."

"So, uh, how is Dot linked to the Gem race?" Atticus asked Drell.

"Her mother/your aunt is actually part Gem like Steven is." Drell revealed.

"Whoa." Atticus said.

"So much to learn... So little time..." Drell replied.

"Heh, I'll say." Atticus said.

"I'd like to know how Jessica first met Alex, Sam, and Clover." Cherry commented.

"Same here." Mo said.

"All right, I'll tell you guys over dinner." Jessica smiled as she soon let her high school friends pet Oddball.

"Hmm... What to eat though?" Amethyst smirked. "I could eat just about anything."

"Oh, we know." Jessica teased her oldest friend.

Dot soon came inside with the others as they went to take care of dinner while Jessica would tell the others of how she met Alex, Sam, and Clover back in high school which would be another story for another time.

The End


End file.
